Retirement Plan

t's not just investments that are the problem: Social Security needs financial resuscitation, and the bursting of the housing bubble that helped spark the financial crisis vaporized the home equity many people were counting on to fund their golden years. Corporations are curtailing traditional pensions and older Americans are being forced to work longer to make up the difference. Where does this leave our retirement plans? Ask a middle-class American when he plans to retire, and more often than not you'll get a wry chuckle and "I'll be working until I die." The attempt at humor masks what may be close to reality for some people.

The retirement-savings system in the U.S. is "a failed experiment," said Teresa Ghilarducci, the Bernard Schwartz professor of economics at The New School for Social Research in New York.

The U.S. system is "headed for a serious train wreck," said John Bogle, founder and former chief executive of the Vanguard Group, in testimony to a House committee hearing on retirement security in February.