PALM BEACH, Florida – When Diana Awed talks about retirement, she speaks of the "national challenge" ahead and its "implications for generations to come."

She doesn't dwell on the consequences, however, avoiding specifics around expectations that many middle-class and lower-income Americans will no doubt end up relying on family, friends and social services to survive after they either can no longer work or, in their old age, simply can't find employment.

Instead, as VP of mutual fund and retirement solutions at New York-based Broadridge Financial Solutions Inc., Awed prefers to focus on ways to make things better, to address what an increasing number of experts are characterizing as the "retirement crisis" in the U.S.