The pension pinch: the red ink is overflowing at the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., the federal insurer of worker retirement benefits. With more than 700 pension plans collapsing in the U.S. over the past five years, the non-profit agency has seen a $7.7 billion surplus morph into a $23 billion deficit.

THE traditional corporate pension appears to be on its way out.

After all, companies large and small have been jettisoning their defined benefit plans for years. And the pace is only expected to quicken as federal reforms requiring companies to fully fund their plans kick in.

Indeed, there is a reported $450 billion funding gap in the nation's defined benefit plans, which also face stricter accounting rules aimed at forcing companies to be more forthright about their pension liabilities.

So the shift is accelerating to defined contribution plans such as 401(k)s and "cash balance" hybrids that limit companies' liabilities. This has opened a world of new opportunities for benefit firms, but workers need to be wary: these new plans could mean even more penny pinching in the Golden Years than yesterday's plans. However, the traditional corporate pension is not dead and there are financial reasons it yet may live on.

The Business Journal's Banking and Finance Special Section this week examines the turmoil in the retirement sector, examining local companies such as Walt Disney Co. that still offer traditional pensions and others such as Reinhold Industries Inc. that have abandoned them.

We also look at the companies that will benefit from the Pension Protection Act of 2006 signed by President Bush in August--and surprisingly one big player that won't. Included is a talk with an expert who favors traditional pension plans and a primer on the new rules and regulations.