re: CNBC: For millions of Americans, the 401k is a failure

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Research it for yourself-read a book and then poke holes in it. I do "infinite banking " and other things financially. It works...not sure what else to say...

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After approximately 15 seconds of research, I found all I need to know.

"The Nelson Nash Institute is named after the founder of the Infinite Banking Concept – Nelson Nash. Nash is also the author of the definitive book on the subject Becoming Your Own Banker."

"Want to Learn More? Purchase the Becoming Your Own Banker Book"

You know how this a-hole became his own banker? Convincing people that his book held the secret and selling it to suckers.

If that book held the secrets, nobody would need to sell it to make money. They'd just use the knowledge to get rich on their own and leave everyone else trying to figure out how they did it. Warren Buffett didn't get rich by selling a book titled "How to be 10 Years Old, Buy One Share of Stock and Turn it Into Billions of Dollars". I also don't see him publishing his ideas on investments he's planning to make to upstart investors for a small fee. If he were to do that, though, the fee would only be to defray publishing costs, of course. He'd just be looking to help you.

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Research it for yourself-read a book and then poke holes in it.

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Fair enough, though I suspect you are a "true believer" yourself and aren't able to see the problems here.

The biggest is simply the expense of paying the insurance premiums while you accumulate your investment pile. This expense is higher than the expense ratios of a diversified set of funds and is a constant drag on your returns. And yes, I'm quite aware of the claim that you can (not guaranteed, of course) earn a better return on what you borrow from your plan than what you pay in premiums.

The real issue though is that a well-directed 401 or Roth doesn't involve any premiums at all, ever. Would it be subject to a market crash? Well, if I'm unwilling to risk that I can invest as conservatively (or not) as I want. I can put the whole thing in a very solid bond portfolio, which is essentially what insurers do anyway.

There are certainly worse things one can do than the "Infinite Banking" thing but a solidly-directed 401 and/or IRA simply costs less and has more flexibility.

Everybody has their own savings/investments. Compared to a 401k or a managed portfolio over a 25-30 year period hands down a high cash value dividend paying whole life policy has less fees than a managed 401k. In the first 6-8 years the 401k has less fees. However , over time as a 401k balance grows the fees grow. A high cash value vehicle -the fees are on the contributions not the balance so over time this is much more efficient plus your money is not "locked up" and there are better tax efficiencies.
However, if I'm talking about traditional whole life (which im not)-the fees and growth don't compare to a qualified plan. A typical whole life is built on high commissions 60-80% the first year. The dividend paying high cash value product is 60% less in commissions over the first year-therefore, there is more access to cash and your account grows at an average annual rate of return of about 7-8.5%.
This is not widely known or talked about(as far as the structure and the fees).
There is no perfect vehicle out there, but as a place to store your wealth and use it to work for you twice( growth plus other opportunities) I honestly don't know of any...
There are better accounts w/growth or other vehicles(real estate, businesses, maybe low cost index funds,private equity, etc...but I haven't found any with growth and to use your money for other purposes to generate a higher rate of return while having liquidity, use, and control over it....
Just my thoughts...

I would prefer the government just give me my SS and medicare and I won't come to them for either. Invest that money and fund my own healthcare and retirement.

Ace midnight right on with your first post. I always tell my wife that we are in control of our ship. Some people have it made in life and some don't. I Refuse to piss and moan about what I don't have, rather work hard to achieve what I can have.