Following the passage of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 and the increased regulatory burden placed on defined benefit pension plans, the less complex fully funded defined contribution plan emerged as a more attractive and increasingly popular alternative. Traditionally the standard approach to pensions in the educational community, defined contribution plans are now growing in other sectors. They give individuals an active role in investment of plan contributions, since responsibility for investment decisions rests with individual participants. Personal financial responsibility also extends to arrangements for supplemental annuity support and additional personal savings. Good decisions depend on relevant and reliable information. Current consumption needs and future savings needs often conflict. Individuals may erect barriers to savings that make it difficult to achieve adequate retirement security. Service providers, employers, and individuals can work together to understand the barriers better and devise ways to overcome them. Vested-interest theory can be particularly useful in helping communicators convince people to translate their high regard for future retirement security into actions to achieve it. (MSE)