<prompt> Human: Interesting how the participation rate is so low. I wonder if its because people are putting priority on other investment vehicles instead like the Roth IRA.  <response>: There are a couple of things going on here. Basically, people are great at procrastinating and bad at making decisions. Studies have shown that if you automatically enroll people in a plan that they would have to file paperwork to opt out of, participation rates are significantly higher. Participation also rises inversely proportionally to the number of funds they have to choose from. A 401k with 5 funds to choose from will have much higher participation than one with 50, because people get overwhelmed and dont even sign up when presented with too many options.On top of all that, people live in the now and generally suck at doing things that will benefit their future selves over their present selves. Instant gratification is sexier than retirement planning. 