Retirement planning has historically been the responsibility of the private citizen with governmental involvement restricted to Social Security program administration. A number of factors have arisen during the last decade, however, which have shifted some of the responsibility for retirement preparation onto a new third party: the employer. Federal legislation raising the minimum compulsory retirement age from 65 to 70 years (1978 amendments to the Age Discrimination in Employment Act), tighter restrictions on pension policies, and demographic trends which threaten the solvency of the Social Security program have forced many employers to take a more active role in their employees' retirement-planning activities. This greater concern with the planning process has frequently manifested itself in the offering of retirement-preparation programs.