Ted Benna designed and put in place the first 401(k) savings plan back in 1978. That historic first earned him the title “father of the 401(k)” even though Benna had his doubts it would work.

“You know I was a little hesitant embracing it,” Benna told Yahoo Finance Presents. “It was a little flukey thing (401(k)) stuck in an end of year tax bill,” that Benna realized allowed companies and employees to increase tax-deferred savings.

Today, the 401(k) juggernaut Benna launched 42 years ago accounts for $7.4 trillion in assets, according to a just released analysis from the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. Only IRAs, at $11 trillion, surpass 401(k) assets and Benna points out some of that IRA money was rolled over from 401(k) accounts as people retired.

Yet despite those massive amounts, Benna warns having enough retirement income will be a major issue in the years ahead for millions of Americans, “with every retirement system in existence severely tested,” as he writes in his book “401(k) Forty Years Later.”

The Federal Reserve’s 2019 Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) shows an increase in 401(k) balances from $135,000 in 2016 to $144,000 in 2019 for households approaching retirement. That will kick off roughly $570 a month.

“No question. It was never intended to be the primary vehicle for saving for retirement,” Benna reminds people. “All these plans are subject to the ups and downs of the stock market. And it's very obvious with 401(k)s.”

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Benna praises the 401(k)’s ability to turn spenders into savers. “It turns spenders into savers by making saving the first priority. And most of us, including me at the time, would never have accumulated what you do with a 401(k), you know, if you had to do it on your own every paycheck.“

Yet roughly 50% of the working population in the U.S. lacks access to an employer-based retirement plan. The Center for Retirement Research says, “Only about half of workers, at any moment in time, participate in either a defined benefit plan or a 401(k) plan.”

It’s one of the reasons Benna advocates for new laws that would require employees be automatically enrolled in retirement savings plans. “That would ratchet up the participation level for those who don’t have plans,” he predicted.

Benna is also calling for a new mandate to require all employers offer, “some form of payroll deduction savings arrangement to help their employees save for retirement.”

Benna says small businesses, those with 100 or fewer employees, could create low-fee retirement plans.

“It's a matter of small businesses realizing that there are great opportunities other than 401(k),” he said. “You know, [for] many of the small employers, 401(k) is not the right answer, and they legally have other alternatives.”