Older Americans who live in RVs and drive from one low-wage job to another
"We saw in the 1980s a shift from pensions to 401(k)s; that was a raw deal for workers. These retirement plans were marketed as an instrument of financial freedom, but they were really transferring risk from the shoulder of the employers to the backs of the workers."<p>This is misleading. 401k's are considerably lower risk since they allow you to be diversified instead of putting all your eggs into one basket (ie a company retirement pension).<p>The problem is the amount of money going into a standard 401k is nowhere near the amount that went into a pension. You had pensions paying out amounts that would require a 401k account with $1MM+ in it. The standard company 401k match these days isn't even peanuts compared to that, and that's if the company even matches at all.