I am fortunate in having worked for many years with a company that provided pension benefits - not many of those left, if any, outside of government. So I have a nest egg. It’s much harder to put enough into a 401K to make a difference - we don’t want to think about it when we are young, and it’s too late when you’re older.
Anyone who has a 401k option available can put at least a little in, and usually get an employer match. keep doing it and in 30 years yes it will make a difference. The problem is that we have a couple of generations who never learned the virtue of delayed gratification.
I made sure my son put away 10-20% of his earnings from his first real job at 18 - overnight worker at an Amazon warehouse during the height of Covid. He has been doing it at every job since, and already has over $60k in his IRA age 23. Other kids also listened and are following suit.
I sure wish I had.
I was oilfield making great amounts of money as a consultant on the rigs. I spent half wildly and oddly as opposed to most saved half. The wildly half was fun, my airplane and great vacations then 1983 happened. The oilfield crashed and burned and the consultants were the first laid off as we were making the big bucks. Sat on my ass of 6 months and realized it was over. My phone stopped ringing with job offers.
Sold my house, sold my airplane and went back to school again and this time a boring pharmacist. Due to my former degree in geology and taking much chemistry as electives my time to degree was only 2-1/2 years. From zero it is a minimal of 5 years, most take 6 years.
Pharmacy has been good to me in the extreme. I will always miss the oilfield. “Once you have heard the rattle of the spinning chain and thrown it, you are oilfield.” Later you may become many great things, but you are still oilfield.
If the company responsible for paying the pension benefits fails, what happens to the pension
Think Kodak.