In a pointed but admittedly bleak look at the changing face of traditional retirement benefits, columnist Peter S. Cohan of the Worcester Telegram declares that retirement is indeed dead, unless participants jump through some major hoops.

Quite accurately, Cohan explains that fewer and fewer major companies are offering defined benefit retirement plans to their workers, that American workers' incomes have dropped over the last decade and that extremely low rates of return are making even the most aggressive 401(k) investments a much less attractive prospect.

His advice? "As you approach your 50s, if you don't have enough money saved up on which to retire – you have three options: keep working until you die, inherit enough to retire on, or retire with insufficient money to pay your bills."