[ZeroGravitas]

Something I keep thinking about is that if everyone is going to be poor, then that's relatively the same as everyone being rich. If anything these stories are good news as if you're lucky then whatever you can scrape together will make you relatively wealthy compared with others, much like if you'd retired to a developing nation.

[hapless]

But not everyone will be poor -- the rich will still be rich. Wage-earners who believed in social security and the stock market may be very surprised to find themselves in penury.

People who lived very nice lives in middle age and did everything "right" may find themselves very poor in their golden years. Our system leaves no margin for error. The millionaires down the road will be able to cope.

Lastly, equality with your elderly peers won't make you feel any better, if everyone is dying in equally rotten ways. Worrying about status is a sport for the young.