Katherine Sullivan

Pensions, Social Security, and savings in a 401k or IRA.

That system might be less secure than we think.

What would you say is the shakiest leg of that stool?

Or are they all at equal risk of collapse?

a lot of Americans don't feel like they're financially prepared for retirement.

I feel like I'm going to have to work till I die.

For more than 100 years, the U.S.

has been grappling with what retirement should look like and how we should achieve it.

At the same time, the challenge has been growing.

People are living longer and have many more post-work years than they used to.

Who bears the responsibility for funding our retirement?

And how is that changing?

It's Sunday, March 8th.

I'm Katherine Sullivan for The Wall Street Journal.

This is USA 250, a podcast series connecting America's economic present to its past.

We'll be occasionally dropping into your What's News feed over the next few months with stories that interrogate, celebrate, and make sense of our economic history.

This is Episode 3, America's Road to a DIY Retirement.

James Chappell is a professor of history at Duke University and the author of the book Golden Years, How Americans Invented and Reinvented Old Age.

I asked him about when the idea of retirement began to take hold in the U.S.

This was a new concept.