Second, the nation is experiencing a skilled worker shortage. Stories in the past week show an interesting trend in hiring – that the real problem with unemployment might not be a lack of jobs [See Businesses post most job openings in 3 years], but that employers won't hire people who lack the qualifications. Which relates to the fact that lower-skilled adults ages 18 to 34 have had the largest jumps in poverty. [See also: Unemployment crisis: Can't find jobs or can't find talent?] 

So what does all this have to do with retirement plans? It means possibly that the next big wave of retirees will be so broke, they either won't be able to quit working, or they'll be living off Social Security's dwindling revenue. And that the cash power for Gen Y might be segregated to cohorts who are part of the greatest wealth transfer in history, an estimated $41 trillion by 2052, according to Boston College's Center on Wealth and Philanthropy.

But even the trust fund kids might not be able to revive the economy. Experts predict that the mass of baby boomers who will begin to sell off equities as they approach their "de-accumulation" period will create a slowdown in the stock market. That is, unless these boomers either keep investing or they want to leave some stock to their kids who need it "as a source of wealth to finance consumption in case they live longer than expected," write Zheng Liu and Mark Spiegel, authors of a recent economic research letter.

Which is just an academic way of saying, "My inheritance is my retirement plan."