I never had one either, I started working for myself early, and retired early. I used a Simple IRA, but very little of my assets ended up in it, I wasn’t allowed to put enough in. IIRC, about 20% of Americans work for themselves, and are never included in these types of articles. Career self-employed people tend to have higher net worths than most employed people. There’s a big hole in all the articles that cover retirement situations.
I worked for the County and then the State of NY, so I had to donate 3% of my earnings to the Retirement System. I never had any real savings having raised two sons alone. Never owned a home either. When the State of NY offered Deferred Compensation, not being a gambler or chance-taker, I donated some to guaranteed savings, and some in mutual funds. I can’t remember when the State began the program. All I know that when 9/11/2001 hit, like everyone else, I lost some of what I had in mutual funds. I retired two years later, and took out everything I had in it. I think I ended up with about $15,000 after taxes, and used it to pay off my car, and other bills, since I had no idea when I would be getting my first pension check.
A 60 year old might only have $62,000 in a 401k but if that 60 year old was mostly self-employed over the years and has a net worth well over a million due to real estate and other private investments, that person is in a much better retirement scenario than just about any 401K holder.