Of my retirement-age friends, a small fraction were fortunate to work their entire career at one company, ending up with good, traditional retirement plans, retirement health care, and enjoyed two months of annual vacation during the last few years of work. Most of them, though, changed companies once or twice, at which point they were dropped from the retirement plans, had their vacation hour seniority reset, and lost their retirement medical care.

It's just now becoming obvious to them, having been retired now for perhaps three or four years, that their personal finances are a disaster: When their retirement money was converted to a cash payout they lost both the support of the still-working and also the shared risk pool of the company-organized plans. The million dollars or so that they may have been able to put into their personal retirement plans (as stock ownership, usually) dropped through the basement, and they are struggling to live on the meager dividends.

The gap between those enjoying the conventional retirement and those not enjoying the new retirement system is apparent in daily discussions...the baby-boomers are entering retirement and it's ugly.