I finally got around to reading this. I didn't know that the 401(k) was billed as a replacement to pensions. Who would be surprised that participation in retirement saving would go down if the responsibility for funding and management went from employer to employee? I opened a Roth IRA last summer with $300 in an S&P 500, large-cap, and medium cap indices. This was in June, and in two weeks there was a market correction and I found out I lost $50 like that, over 15% . I think it had something to do with China. And interest rates. I think about how I've tried to educate myself and how short I am of understanding, even in big-picture terms, what's going on. And I can't help but think, God we are boned. PS- reading Other People's Money by John Kay now. I hope to continue pushing back the ignorance