Retirement is a tricky thing too. Contributing 3% of pay with a match or $.50/dollar is all most ppl vaguely understand about 401 participation so their happy and dont look much further in to it than that.
I think the IRS max allowable deferement is 19,500/yr per individual and 56,000 with the companies contribution. So that would be considered maxed out 401 every yr and thats far far more than the standard deduction most contribute. Its not hot in my head atm but iirc you really need about min 1,000,000(and thats not really alot) to 6,000,000 to retire "comfortably". At 1,000,000 only thats 50k a yr to live off from IF you live 20 yrs post retirement. Is that an ideal retirement? I think not.
Moral of the story? A 401 is not a good primary retirement period. Not unless your contributing the max every yr and living well below your means to set aside more. While its a great way to lower your tax shield AND save for the future there MUST be other things your investing in to make actual retirement happen. Because S.S they say wont be a thing for our and future generations. Even tho we all contribute to it.
Sad really. Retirement is tricky and the older i get the scope of that problem becomes more clear