This thread looks like it belongs in the Financial or maybe Retirement Section. It is certainly very much about retirement and retiree finances.
From the linked article you posted:
"Although she plans to stop working in about a decade, Jennifer Messina, a 51-year-old administrative assistant in Nutley, New Jersey, said she isn’t worried about retirement because her husband’s job affords them a union-sponsored annuity (an insurance product that pays out income) and a pension plan."
I think Jennifer is foolish to depend soley on her husband's job to be the source of their retirement income. What happens if they shut down or he gets terminated or dies? No way to know what benefits she'd be entitled to then. And what if the annuity company folds? Anyway, I think we women should always have our own savings/investments, credit histories (work to achieve excellent FICO scores) and seek to establish financial security on our own.
I don't get bombarded with financial solicitations, especially not by phone. I'll occasionally get solicitations by a banks offering perks for opening accounts. Junk mail...toss. The worst are the Medicare mailings. I have called a few companies to tell them to take me off their lists. Will we be targeted in ads? Yes. Do we have to pay attention to them? No. To say they "want all our stuff" seems like an exaggeration IMO.