All your IRAs holding money rolled from employer pension plans count as the same type and must have the same beneficiaries.

FORBES: Is it time to move your IRA?

Another considerable issue: Hostess is saddled with multi-employer pension plans, which require payments to workers at other companies in addition to its own.

WSJ: Twinkie Maker Hostess Brands, Unions Face Off Over New Batch of Cuts

As it gobbled up bakeries across the country, Hostess wound up with 372 collective-bargaining agreements, 40 multi-employer pension plans, 5, 500 delivery routes and a vast production system.

WSJ: Twinkie Maker Hostess Brands, Unions Face Off Over New Batch of Cuts

Unlike retirees of past generations who could rely on Social Security and employer pension plans for guaranteed income, baby boomers will likely be on their own when it comes to income generation and must rely on their savings to provide much of their retirement income.

FORBES: Weave Your Own Retirement Safety Net

When Bob leaves his current employer, he plans on rolling his pension into an IRA, which he believes can earn 5% per year.

FORBES: Why You Should Retire Before Dec. 31

Defined benefit pension plans may be terminated by either the employer or the PBGC.

FORBES: PBGC Pension Termination: A Worker's Perspective by Terry O'Rourke, United airlines (December 15, 2007 )

In traditional defined benefit pension plans, if employers made poor investment decisions that resulted in reduced pension assets, it was the employer who had to make up the difference between the assets and liabilities of the fund.

FORBES: An End to 401(k)s (February 1, 2002)

Other large tax expenditure provisions that I did not include in this experiment include the earned income tax credit, the child credit, the exclusion of employer provided and self-employed health benefits, and the present law treatment of various forms of retirement income and pension plans.

FORBES: Eliminating Tax Expenditures To Cut Rates - Early Results Are Underwhelming