Years ago B.K. (before kids), I took weekly golf lessons. While it never showed on the golf course, I was developing a nice game. I took lessons with a curmudgeon golf pro named Kenny and the lessons were at a golf store. While I was salivating at the prospect of buying my own Callaway clubs, Kenny was insistent that a golf club was just a tool and it was dependent on how you use it. A golf club never makes the swing, the golfer does. So the newest Callaway and Titleist will slice pretty much the same way as a 50-year-old set of clubs if the golfer slices. While many television programs bemoan the fact that 401(k) plans are awful, the fact is that a 401(k) plan is merely a tool; it is dependent on how the plan sponsors and providers use it. So this article is a defense of 401(k) plans and how its usefulness is dependent on plan sponsors and their plan providers.