There’s definitely some shady shit various financial companies have done, but it’s not the main problem apartfrom pension funds. Pensions absolutely got screwed by companies able to use overly optimistic investment forecasts. The far bigger issue for individual retirement is that people are addicted to spending, and will go to insane lengths to justify that spending. What they need to do is continued and consistent investment over decades, but instead people will buy into scams or try to time the market to “catch up.”