Fast Fact

Only a fraction of workers who participate in a retirement plan have access to a traditional kind of pension that guarantees income in retirement

Social security assets assets, held in the form of U.S. Treasury securities, will last another 38 years

Without Social Security, more than 35 percent of Americans aged 65 and older would be living in poverty

Social Security provides 73 percent of the typical retiree's income, compared to 17 percent from pensions and 10 percent from savings and other sources

The Social Security situation is not as dire as con­servatives sometimes pretend. The program is currently in surplus. Under cautious estimates, it is projected to fall short around the year 2052.

Experts suggest a replacement rate of 75-80 percent of pre-retirement income is considered adequate, though rising retiree health care costs have led some to question this rule of thumb.

Corporate pension plans are underfunded by as much as $450 billion while the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation – which provides a partial guarantee of worker pensions for bankrupt companies – continues to show about a $23 billion deficit.

In 2005, Americans spent more than they saved for the first time since the Great Depression. People spent $1.04 for every $1 earned.

69% of Fortune 1,000 CEOs are covered by traditional defined-benefit plans, while only 21% of private-sector workers are covered by the plans.

Social Security benefits lift nearly 13 million seniors age 65 and older above the poverty line and lifted one million children under 18 above the poverty line in 2002.