[ryandrake]

I think whether defined-contribution retirement is a successful experiment is yet to be determined. I’m in my 40s and everyone I have opened up to about finances and who have reciprocated have admitted to having savings that are totally inadequate, by one or two orders of magnitude. And these are people in tech, better off than average. Few people I know expect to be able to retire and keep their standard of living.

The median American has around $10k in savings and 30% of us have less than $1000. The median savings for people of retirement age is a mere $100k, which isn’t enough to live on for more than a few years in most cities. I’m not sure how self-funded retirement is really expected to work.

All of the people I know who are comfortably retired are on old school defined-benefit pensions. AFAIK 401k-dependent retirees have not yet hit critical mass, so we haven’t seen the financial catastrophe that may be coming.