I suspect some of us "young dreamers" would be interested to see if anyone who had to rely completely (or almost completely) on their own investments were able to pull the plug this suddenly. Seems like that would take a lot more planning and forethought with your finances than simply knowing you have a "big enough" pension waiting for you on a certain date. Growing a large enough personal retirement savings nest egg to retire doesn't happen overnight or even in a couple of years of working on it.
I think your comments went right on by, but since it pretty much reflected my situation - thought I'd comment.
I have worked for very large private companies and also private start-ups, but all of them phased out of or never offered pensions or even 401k's (and forget about medical coverage until Medicare kicks in). Only had one small pension coming for 11+ years of labor early on, and I cashed out and rolled it over (figured I could do a better investment job - so far, so good).
I've been investing heavily for (early) retirement for the last 15 years, and proud of my nest egg. I use to think that if I just had half the amount saved for retirement - I'd "have it made". Now I worry that it's not going to be enough.
The overwhelming retirement crusher I see when going it alone - is the uncertainty of projecting what it will take to make it out 25-30 years (and not have to work at McDonald's or live with my kids). Can't see cleaning tables at McDonald's when I or my wife are in our 80's, or living with our kids and having our family see our early retirement as an embarrassing failure. I would compare this to a blind man attempting to steer a train from the caboose ;-)
Done the projections and tried the calculators (and they all give me the green light) - but took two forced looks at retirement to finally move along that path. When looking back - I still prefer saving for my own retirement over the security of a pension. I am also grateful for having the taxed advantaged saving opportunity for my retirement and not relying on someone who doesn't have my best interest for retirement. I fear that our government will eventually screw up this opportunity for the average person to accumulate wealth and retire on their own terms.
My objective is to successfully work the money during retirement - living as best we can off it, and leave as much as we can to our children. Although not as secure as a pension - it has a potential legacy that pensions will never provide. Health care until we are both 65 is the great unknown (we are 57/59). Worried about this one considerably, and ultimately decided that whatever happens - it's better to have enjoyed some retirement than never to have retired at all.