Retirement in America has changed so quietly that most people have not noticed how much responsibility moved with it. In March 2025, only 14 percent of private-industry workers had access to a defined benefit plan (i.e., pension), while 70 percent had access to a defined contribution plan, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
To me, those numbers capture more than a change in retirement planning. They reflect a much larger shift in who is expected to prepare for life after work: you. For generations, a pension did more than provide income.
A worker could spend a career knowing that part of retirement had already been organized around them. Today, many people are instead expected to decide how much to save, where to invest, how to respond when markets move, and eventually how to turn accumulated savings into lasting financial security. I am not arguing that individual ownership is the problem.
In many respects, I believe it can be empowering. My concern is that we transferred much of that responsibility faster than we developed the support people need to manage it confidently. The Federal Reserve offers some perspective on that challenge.
Its 2026 report on household economic well-being found that only 35 percent of non-retirees believed their retirement savings plan was on track. I do not read that number as evidence that Americans simply do not care enough about retirement. I see it as a reason to question whether access to an account, by itself, gives people enough support to prepare effectively.
This is also why I resist treating financial education as the complete answer. Personal finance is bigger than a letter grade. Education matters, but I see it as the beginning of a sequence: education, access, engagement, guidance, and execution.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
