The Great American Do-It-Yourself Retirement Fraud, Brought to You By Big Finance & Co.

[HughBeaumont]

9. Spread Far and Wide. 401(k) is a lot more sexy a term than "dying at your desk".

Most workers either aren't that well compensated or didn't start early enough (the "shoulda/woulda/coulda" victim blamer's favorite "go-to"s) that the 401k could even work as a supplement when retirement hits.

Here's some perspective -

I got my first 401(k) and now have a second one (haven't rolled the first one over, which I'll get around to doing soon).

In 15 years of almost constant contribution to these things, both of which are balanced and run the gamut of money market funds to index funds to foreign stock funds, I have a whopping 80 thousand dollars. Even after compound interest, matches, near-maximum contribution, and the insane amount of luck of being almost constantly employed during this time . . . in 15 years, that's all I have. The worst part about it is that most retirees would be happy to have THAT much.

Think that in the next 18-20 years (target retirement age), I'm magically going to even reach half a million? REALLY? To retire by 2033, you would need at least several hundred thousand dollars minimum, even if your house is paid off (snicker), to last the rest of your life. It would take a miracle life with zero landmines, all the right moves and no stock market crashes to accomplish that. It's NOT happening.

Also, I better hope I never have an uninsureable illness during this period.

What you make has everything to do with how comfortable your retirement's going to be, if you're able to retire at all. That's why no one can retire, because if they're not having to start from scratch at 53, they lost it all in unbridled corporatism's stock follies.