Got Retirement Savings?

My wife was complaining this morning about yet another article in the paper saying that we need $1.5 million in savings if we want to retire well.  Editorialists should realize by now that if you don't have a significant portion of that amount saved by the time you are in your mid-forties, let alone late fifties, it's an impossible dream.  In the older age brackets all we can do is manage debt.  Social security can go a long way to providing a comfortable retirement if you have no monthly payments for our material things.  No, it's not perfect and it doesn't cover medical expenses well, but it's what we have control over (unless an agent and/or a publishing company discovers me...)