Two people with identical retirement savings can face a lawsuit and get completely different outcomes.
Not because one had a better lawyer. Because of which account the money was sitting in, and which state they happened to live in.
This is the part of retirement planning nobody thinks about until something goes wrong, and by then the decision that mattered was made years earlier, usually for unrelated reasons.
Somebody rolled a 401(k) into an IRA because the investment menu was better. Perfectly sensible. They also, without knowing it, swapped one of the strongest asset protections in American law for a patchwork that varies by state line.
Giphy
So the answer to the question is not yes or no. It is: it depends on the account type, the creditor, and where you live.
Here is how to work out which version applies to you.