With home prices and their 401(k) accounts falling, Baby Boomers can forget about retiring to the beach in Florida and playing golf all day. Instead, they're worrying about paying the bills.

The top financial concern for people 45 and older is now paying for food, shelter and other basic needs, according to a global survey by the Hartford Financial Services Group published on RedwoodAge.com, a Web site targeted to people older than 45.

About a third of the average retirement nest egg has been lost in the financial markets, according to the report. Hartford's data shows that half of Americans over 45 are worried about getting by on a daily basis in retirement, and the numbers are higher overseas, where many European countries have guaranteed pensions.

The study also found that 43% of Americans said they're concerned they won't have enough money to enjoy life, 27% said they're worried about running out of money before they die, and 16% of Americans said they may not be able to afford health care. With an average stay at a nursing home costing $80,000 per year, not having enough money in retirement is a scary thought.

While retiring to Florida or other sunbelt locations may be difficult, some Boomers are looking at retiring in Mexico, where home prices can be half as much as they are in the United States, according to a developer in Mexico. Maybe that's one way to solve the problem of paying bills -- convert them to pesos.

Aaron Crowe is an unemployed journalist in the San Francisco Bay Area. Read about his job hunt at www.talesofanunemployeddad.blogspot.com

For some people, the world is divided racially or economically, along gender lines or by political borders. For me, the big divider, at least in the United States, has always been generational.

I was born in 1971, smack in the middle of what would later be called Generation X. I was part of dropoff generation, the calm after the storm, the first generation to undergo wholesale tranquilizing at the hands of school districts and the first generation to come of age under the threat of AIDS. I was also part of the generation that had the unfortunate task of following behind the Baby Boomers.

I don't need to tell you about the Boomers, and I'm disinclined to rehash their legendary exploits. Let's just say that they were the ones who defaulted on student loans while my generation was left begging for college money. They were the ones who complained of censorship while we had to crawl out from under the heavy blanket of classic rock. They were the biggest generation in American history, and one of their number spat on my mother when she was pregnant with me, stating that having children was "irresponsible."

Not that I bear them any ill will, mind you.