American Express had a simple goal: attract the best and brightest employees by giving them retirement security.

At the time, this was a revolutionary idea. The concept of "retirement" was practically martian.

Back then, most people worked until they were no longer medically fit to do so.

To voluntarily stop working and live out your golden years on perpetual vacation was a complete fantasy.

But a century after American Express, thanks in large part to rising prosperity in the 20th century, retirement had become the norm.

Private companies' pension plans covered over 40% of the American workforce and millions of Americans were receiving Social Security by the 1970s.