The late President Jimmy Carter launched a commission in 1978 to study the nation's retirement system.

Among the commission's key recommendations was the idea for a minimum universal pension on top of Social Security. Private employers would contribute at least 3% of payroll for their employees. But the Ronald Reagan administration ignored the report upon its release in 1981.

Yet decades later, approximately half of the private sector workforce doesn't have access to an employer-sponsored retirement plan. Little wonder 44% of households with members aged 55-64 have no savings at all, according to Teresa Ghilarducci, economist at the New School for Social Research.

The lack of retirement savings doesn't reflect bad planning or poor financial literacy. Instead, a porous retirement system is failing too many people, especially employees working at small- to medium-sized businesses without retirement plans. (The vast majority of large companies have retirement plans.)

We can do much better. There is no shortage of good ideas to consider.

Take former Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa and his Universal, Secure, Adaptable Retirement Funds Act from 2014. He wanted to create a privately run retirement plan combining the advantages of traditional pensions for employees with the ease for employers of a 401(k).

Economists Ghilarducci and Hamilton James, former executive at the financial services firm Blackstone, designed their Guaranteed Retirement Accounts so any employer without its own 401(k) must participate in and contribute to a government-sponsored retirement savings plan.

The bipartisan Retirement Savings for Americans Act introduced in 2023 aimed to help private sector workers without a 401(k) save for their elder years. Modeled after the federal government's efficient Thrift Savings Plan, the new system would include such valuable features as automatic enrollment, portability and razor-thin fees. Other ideas would place a universal IRA or 401(k) on top of Social Security.

Managing money well is a lifelong skill. But personal financial knowledge isn't enough to deal with the lack of retirement savings among so many workers, especially for the younger generation just starting their careers. The current system is stacked against them.

If the new administration and Congress want to do something quick to improve long-term financial security for workers, they could pull one good retirement plan off the shelf and pass it into law. Every worker would enter retirement with at least some savings, and hopefully more.

The basics of personal finance could then be helpful in supporting more people to live their desired lifestyle.

Chris Farrell is senior economics contributor for "Marketplace" and a commentator for Minnesota Public Radio.