With more retirement plan choices, today's workers are increasingly responsible for their own retirement planning.

A declining share of workers are enrolled in traditional defined benefit plans, which promise workers a specific monthly benefit upon retiring. 

A growing share of workers are in defined contribution plans, such as 401(k) plans, where their retirement income will be much more dependent on their own investment decisions.

Workers with defined contribution plans can more easily transfer retirement savings from one employer to another or into private accounts.

DID YOU KNOW?
About half of all American families owned publicly traded stock in 1998; the proportion had been only one-third a decade earlier. Families own stock in many different ways--through direct ownership, mutual funds, retirement accounts, or other managed assets.