Effective guarantees on income have been disappearing. People used to frequently buy immediate annuities - investments managed by insurance companies - to generate a lifetime of guaranteed payments to supplement their work retirement plans. Retirement plans through work also generally paid income guaranteed to last for the rest of an employee's (and their spouse's) lifetime.
Immediate annuities and lifetime retirement income plans are much less common now, partly because of their high cost to employers and their inflexibility:
You could not turn them on or off when you wanted or needed to. You had no access to your money if you needed it for healthcare or another major expenditure.
You had no control over the investment pool, so your work plan or annuity typically invested your money in lower paying bonds. Your lifetime income was smaller than it could have been if invested in other alternatives that grew at a faster rate.
Your children were out of luck - there was nothing left from these plans at the end for them to inherit.
Now you are more likely to save for retirement through a plan at work - 401(k), 403(b), et al.
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