Problem with 401K is that it's not inflation proof.  Your Grandmother, presumably if she's old enough, likely remembers when she only paid $0.05 for a Coca Cola in a restaurant; whereas today, a Coca Cola costs up to $2 (if not $3 in a bar).  Coca Cola increased 40 to 60 times within generational memory.  The samething will happen to your 401K - it'll decrease in value by 20 to 60 times by the time you collect.


Pensions suffer the same issue too, I might add, unless you have an indexed pension like government workers.  The reality is most of us will probably die from starvation in our old age due to not having any money, unless we manage to keep a job somehow.  

That's the reality of inflation, folks.  Back in the age of prosperity, when currencies did not inflate to the moon, it wasn't uncommon for people to retire in their 50s.  It's a dystopian society if we are working people to death, especially when this is contrasted by all the Paris Hiltons and other capital owning parasites