Tell that to those Americans who KNOW how to handle their finances.
I’m not in the “top 1%” and certainly far from it 40 plus years go when I started investing. It helped enable me to retire at age 54.
Most people don’t know how to manage their money.
In my plant, we have a good 401(K) system. Many people have nothing to retire on, because they pull that money out for trips, houses, boats, etc.
Now the 401K system is flawed (for instance, the Fedgov keeps rumbling about seizing those funds), but if you manage it well you can be ok. But most people just don’t have the self control to do so.