My father passed away at 81 last year. He worked in the federal government his whole career. Put in 30 years and retired in his early 50s on a nice big old pension. My father was never a saver but in the year before he died he bought a new house and a new car. He had about $1500 in his checking account. You know why? His pension more than covered his living expenses and health insurance and if he was going to need it (thankfully he died peacefully in his sleep kind of unexpectedly) a long term care plan. The reason he never saved any money is because he was fully covered for just about any problem he would encounter in old age. This country is screwed if we can't crack the nut on child care and elder care.