[eatsyourtacos]

Because the entire concept is basically designed to just make the rich even richer and puts way more risk on the individual.

Instead of say, social security being significantly higher by people paying more into taxes.. we have convinced people to put money into a 401k.. which is first entirely dependent on "the market", something which is well out of peoples control. The design is that people are 'forced' to contribute this way, which will drive market prices up so the people who actually have substantial money make way more on the market going up than the little guy.

Then on the flip side, when the market does tank it hurts the little guy way more because it's basically ALL of their assets at risk on something they can't control. While the rich are able to have money in a much more diversified set (real estate, business etc).

People also get f'd if they happen to want to retire close to a big market crash and all that. Again, things completely out of their control.

Before anyone starts arguing "I would rather have control on my 401k than the government!!", if the US government couldn't pay social security you would be way more fucked in the market in that situation. We have a stable government- that stable government should be providing security for people in old age.

"Retirement" being linked to the market is so beyond dumb. It's one giant scam to pump up the market and shift risk to individuals.

[paulgb]

I’m not saying they’re perfect, but target date funds are meant to solve exactly that. They give you exposure to market upside over a long duration (so you can collect risk premia when you have the longest horizon) and then gradually expose you less to the market as the fund approaches its target date.

[awinder]

There’s nothing “dumb” with building wealth (to finance retirement or otherwise) with stocks/funds. It’s the primary mechanism the rich use to build and retain wealth.

Pensions have major issues. The government has not made a very good case for “we should manage more retirement funds” with the state of the SSI trust. 401ks are a next move to address downfalls and failures with how other options have played out. But yeah anyone can do dumb shit with money to their detriment; that’s very difficult to overcome.

[bigyikes]

My 401k is based on a portfolio of companies, each of which is valuable because of their success in the market. This portfolio changes over time as companies rise and fall.

My future social security is based on the promise that future taxpayers will fund it.

I’ll take my real value (401k) over the promise of value in the future (social security).

[qeternity]

> While the rich are able to have money in a much more diversified set (real estate, business etc).

For the median household, most wealth is tied up in real estate (their home).