The 401(k)’s midlife crisis

THE PROVISION THAT GIVES THE NAME OF AMERICA’S MOST popular retirement-savings plan, Section 401(k), turned 40 on Nov. 6, 2018. And in its first four decades, the 401(k) has lived an unexpectedly glamorous life. At the time of its enactment, lawmakers anticipated that it would exist in obscurity, affecting only a small number of corporate executives. Forty years later, 401(k) has become possibly the most famous section of the Internal Revenue Code, with well over 90 million Americans personally participating in 401(k)s or