^ I think you're missing a couple key points though. First while people had defined benefit plans they also worked until 65, often with few job changes, and were dying withing a decade of retirement. Today workers are much more mobile which means they aren't contributing to plans for the same length of time (a generalization to be sure). The other issue though is life expectancy. People are living much longer, and they're also retiring earlier. If you want to retire at 55, and live until 95, you're talking about working for about 35 years (from 20-55) and then supporting yourself for 75. Its crazy.
I would also point out that not too many generations ago people didn't retire. So the pendulum swung to the point where many people retired, and maybe now its swinging back towards less people retiring. That is partially by need, and partially by choice as more and more clients I see are working longer on a reduced basis because they still love certain aspects and want something to do.
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