Dave wrote:
$2,500 saved each year isn't going to go very far toward retirement.

True, but it's a heck of a lot better than nothing.



Larger employer have a dizzying variety of plan types

True, but that's not a personal concern of mine & I don't know much
about it.

.... including those
providing matching contributions in company stock (very bad policy as it
increases the employee's risk of losing both a good chunk of his pension and
his matching contributions if the employer fails).

Well, it can be good or bad, depending. It's always better for the
company than handing out cash; and one might assume that the employees
also benefit in the long run from the company's increased profitability
& stability. OTOH it also adds another possibility for corporate
skulduggery & kleptocracy.


... The cost of jumping
through the tax hoops for these plans is major league, and they are all
circumscribed by complex rules designed to insure that the people who could
save a lot under them won't be able to. In short, the system is nuts.

Agreed. We need Congress to scrap all tax laws, and add an amendment to
the Constitution that all tax laws shall henceforth be limited to what
can be printed in large type on an index card.

DSK