‘I hope I can quit working in a few years’: A preview of the U.S. without pensions

I'm lucky, very lucky. I knew that I would never earn a pension as a self-employed consultant, so I tried to save one of my own. Sadly, my income was irregular and there was no hope of saving nearly enough. In my last decade of working, the years that count most in calculating your Social Security retirement benefits, and now draw a larger than average check from the government each month. Still, that's not enough to live on. Most of my retirement income is produced by rental property that my wife inherited. That's the luck I mentioned. Without it, we'd be on the street. Thus, my advice is to marry well or start investing in income producing property. Trust me you'll never save enough and no employer is going to save it for you

It's almost as if people are expected to be responsible for themselves.

Like "Car Pool" parking, 401K's started off as a good idea and then morphed into a monster. While created as a way to supplement a pension they are now by and large your pension. I was lucky as I went to work for a company after retiring from the military that had a pension and was "grandfathered" in after several changes of ownership and eventual end to a retirement from the company. What became more amazing is those who didn't/don't participate in the 401K even to the point of at least the match stating they cannot afford it. Yet many of these are the same who Cancun it annually, drive high dollar vehicles and have the daily Charbucks at $5-6 a wack. Hopefully, these will not be the same shouting for Uncle Sam to rescue them later in life. Sadly, todays younger people will have to take the bull by the horns and start stacking it away now as all employees are now disposable.