Katherine Sullivan

Benna realized companies could use these matching funds as perks to offer employees.

Companies liked them a lot more than traditional pensions.

But employees were skeptical.

companies eventually rebranded the plans.

And by the mid-1980s, major Fortune 500 companies began to embrace the 401k.

By the early 1990s, 401k-type plans had overtaken the pension.

They became the third leg of the retirement planning stool.

But when the 401k was introduced, employees may not have understood the tradeoffs between these types of defined contribution plans and pensions.

That exact thing happened over 15 years ago during the 2008 financial crisis.

Anne Targesan covers retirement at The Wall Street Journal.

She spent 18 years talking to people about how they're managing or planning to manage their retirement.

She remembers a moment when it looked like maybe people were not comfortable with keeping their retirement exposed to the stock market.

It was in 2008, during the Great Recession.

At the bottom of the crisis in March of 2009, the market had lost more than 50% of its value from its peak in October 2007.

The value of people's IRAs and 401 s plummeted.

None of these options gained steam, and instead, Americans embraced the 401k even further.

Auto enrollment in 401ks has tripled since 2007.

Roughly 43% of Americans contribute to one.

But anxiety about savings hasn't eased.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, around 70% of private sector workers have access to a 401k-style plan at work, but only about half actually participate in it.