Imagine for a moment it's 2008, and you are about to retire. Except... your 401K that you are talking about is cut in half, or more. That "retirement income" you saved up for all those years, wiped out by an economic downturn.

What now? Just keep working?

Comparing the two statements at the same time, his and yours, I would agree with him.

9E far from sucks. It was never intended to be, and it will never be, close to the legacies for pay. Heck, it doesn't even hold a candle to B6 for pay, other than first year.

Yup. The supreme court decided that pensions under plan A can be robbed from you at any time and 401k is a silver metal. Work an extra few years (at walmart if you have to) because the 401k will supposedly eventually rebound the 50% you lost, like today, and your retirement is restored. The market recovered from the great recession by 2013 or that timeframe?

Or you can buy gold.

I bought some florida properties so i can do the slum lord thing long into my retirement and the market be damned.

Yes. It will rebound. But if you were 65 in 2008, and your account is now back to where it was in 2006, you had to work an additional 11 years while waiting to sit back and relax. Oh, but I mean real work, not being a pilot sitting on your throne.

All hail the mighty 401k. (Sarcasm)

What's your alternative? The extra wages dumped into a CD or savings? What about every United guy who lost their whole pension in 2003? Those guys dont even get half. They get nada. They can't even kick it at Burgerking until the market rebounds.

401k is the best of a bad situation and works for the majority of Americans

I guess you guys never heard of down playing.

Usually you pay double for that sort of action, Cotton.

USairways. They lost everything.

Bingo we have a winner!!

Diversification. I'm fortunate to owe only on a mortgage with no other debt. I contribute 12% to the 401k (to get the 50% match up to 6% of the salary), max out a Roth, and have a couple other investments. Yep, all of them can tank, but the odds of them all going simultaneously is less than if all the money was in just the 401k. I'd rather have more money in my pocket every month to do with as I see fit than anything locked to the company.