I was shocked comparing my wife's 401K to my

[JDPriestly]

117. The tax deferrment is great if, while you are working, you are paying high tax rates.

For lower income people, they have very little value. You have to pay the tax once you retire if your income in retirement is high enough to qualify you to pay taxes.

Theoretically you pay taxes at a lower rate in retirement than while you are working. That is mostly because it is assumed your income will be considerably lower in retirement than it is when you are working.
In my case, that is certainly true.

Bonds don't show the gains that stocks and mutual funds are purported to show. As I pointed out, the growth of our investments in the stock market and I include in that mutual funds depends on the state of the market when you calculate your gains or losses. In retirement, your big expenses are medical costs, things like dental work and hearing aids, co-pays for medications in the donut hole, co-pays for major healthcare items. I am shocked in retirement to see how fast the medical bills add up. And I am not really sick.

If a person makes really good money while working, a 401(K) can be part of the retirement planning. But really, if you make an average salary or very little money, your 401(K) is not going to be big enough to match what you will get out of Social Security or probably a union or government pension.

I am very disappointed personally in how 401(K)s work out. I think a lot of people are. The investment advisers, the Wall Street people, make out well I guess.