After a decade in HR, I've watched too many colleagues treat their 401(k) like a set-and-forget checkbox, only to panic at 55 when the balance looks nothing like the retirement calculators promised. But is the real problem our lack of financial literacy, or are the systems themselves—employer matches, tax incentives, market volatility—stacked against the average worker? I've seen people with modest incomes build solid nest eggs through sheer discipline, while others with high salaries and generous matches end up with less, which makes me wonder whether we're asking the wrong question about retirement planning altogether. What do you think—should we focus more on personal responsibility or on fixing the structural gaps in how we save for old age?