YouTube screencapThe 401(k) — perhaps the most ubiquitous but frequently underutilized retirement vehicle in the US — came under fire last week in a gloomy article from The Wall Street Journal, in which the very same people who championed the retirement plan decades ago now say that it hasn't served average Americans all that well. Named after a tweak in the tax code back in 1978, the 401(k) came to life in an era when pensions offered and funded by private employers were the prominent form of retirement savings.