Adding on to your first paragraph about dependency on stock market performance for retirement.

401ks that my generation is used to are a concept only ~36years old, even at that most companies didn't start offering them until the 90s.

It's a very young tool that we're only just now seeing play out for people reaching retirement age that missed the ubiquitous pension era.

And roth IRA was introduced in 1997.

No comment on any of this being good or bad, I think it's interesting to look at the historical perspective of it though.