We have always considered 401(K)'s as a wonderful opportunity. They are a major portion of our retirement portfolio. We could shelter 16% of our pay from taxes, and the company would give us another 4%? Fantastic.
For this to work, we needed to understand how important it is to LBYM. Among other things, I give a lot of credit to my mother who told us many times when we were little "if you save your money for a rainy day, then on that rainy day you can go to a movie, or buy a coloring book if you want" .
Have we been the best investors? No, we made some mistakes. But consistently saving and enjoying two bull markets helped us recover from the boo boos. (Of course, let's not forget the big drops either, or the "lost decade" of the early 90's.)
I tried a few times to give retirement saving education classes to coworkers and they had little effect. Now I give positive recognition to those who are "walking the walk". Interestingly, they come from a variety of income levels. From household incomes of $40K to much higher. (The $40K household income individual owns 3 houses, maxes out their 401(k), and is set for early retirement.....)
If we are going to keep the responsibility for saving on the individual, then given human nature I suspect it will be necessary for people to see a bunch of tragic examples to shock them into a change in behavior. The Boomers generation will provide these examples. I suspect the media will display these although they may be cloaked in "the system does not work" and "it's not my fault".
It will then be up to us to be examples of the benefits of LBYM, so people can see the contrast.
I think we will be a stronger society if we do continue to put responsibility on the individual, with some safety net for the truly unlucky. My opinion anyway.
There is always pressure from the group that thinks responsibility should be shifted to "someone else". I think the author comes from this camp.