Private pensions don't solve this, in that they were still only available to those whose employers offered them. For the most part pensions were replaced with 4

Private pensions don't solve this, in that they were still only available to those whose employers offered them. For the most part pensions were replaced with 401ks, so there was no significant loss of access to retirement product. To your concern about lack of access, the solution is simple: raise the cap on IRAs. This still doesn't solve the nudge problem, where people are less likely to sign up withou HR emailing an enrolment form every year. There is also probably a correlation between people without 401k access, and those who would not be reaching the current IRA cap anyway.