I don't think it should be compulsory, as I am sure there is a segment of low income workers who truly need to take home every cent they earn. With that in mind, I would like to see a little more regulation of 401k programs.
Once upon a time in the not so distant past, lots of mid sized and almost all large employers offered pensions (defined benefit) to thier employees for retirement. Times have changed, and these days very few mid sized companies offer a defined benefit pension retirement plan, instead the 401K has replaced it as a defined contibution retirement plan.
Unfortunately, as good as the 401K is, I see so many mid-sized companies who don't offer a match at all into their employees 401k. Without a company match, I would think it would be rather difficult for a low income or lower middle income employee to save enough into thier 401k to buy them a decent annuity when they retire.
I would like to see more regulation where upon an employer is required to match a certain percentage of the employee's contribution if for example the size of their workforce is equal to or greater than X.
I would also like to see more education for the employee on the importance of saving in the 401k. I know from my own experience, that I left a lot of money on the table of several of my former employers (one employer in particular had a very generous match), because I didn't know what a 401k was or how it worked. Employees need more than just a mailing sent to your home on your retirment plan, perhaps the Government should create a video that every employee would need to view when they start working for a company that provides a 401k program (kind of like they did for students entering college on financial aid).
Fortunately for me and my wife, we have both learned the errors of our ways, and are contributing 10% of our gross pay to our 401K (both of our companies have a generous match), and both of our companies also have a separate pension plan (my plan is defined benefit, my wifes is defined contribution).
