Introduction: The Man Who Worked for Forty Years and Still Cannot Rest

I met him at a bus stop in Accra. He was seventy-three years old, neatly dressed in a worn but ironed shirt, carrying a small bag. He was on his way to see a daughter who sometimes gave him money for food.

He had worked for forty-two years. First as a storekeeper for a wholesale company, then as a security guard after that company collapsed, then as a dispatch rider in his late fifties when his knees still allowed it. He had paid his dues. He had worked hard. He had done everything his generation was told would lead to a comfortable old age.

And now, at seventy-three, he was riding the trotro to ask his daughter for handouts.

His story is not exceptional. It is not even unusual. It is the silent crisis of Ghanaian ageing—the millions of elderly citizens who worked their entire lives yet find themselves dependent on children, neighbours, or the kindness of strangers.

The numbers behind this crisis are staggering—and they are getting worse.

The 2025 Old Mutual Financial Wellness Monitor, surveying working Ghanaians across urban and peri-urban areas, found that three in four working Ghanaians believe they have not saved enough for retirement. This lack of confidence has risen for three consecutive years: from 56 per cent in 2023 to 61 per cent in 2024 to 74 per cent in 2025.

Even more telling: ninety-two per cent of working Ghanaians agree that saving for retirement is important. The awareness is there. The intention is there. Yet only one in three has actively started saving.

This gap between knowing and doing is the most important financial story in Ghana today.

This ASJ feature investigates why retirement planning remains ignored in Ghana despite widespread awareness of its importance. We examine the economic constraints, the cultural safety nets, the trust deficit left by the financial sector crisis, and the structural gaps in pension coverage—particularly for the informal sector, which employs the majority of Ghanaian workers. We also explore what is being done to address the crisis, from the NPRA’s new digital platform to proposed mandatory registration reforms.

Because the man at the bus stop is not an anomaly. He is a warning. And unless we understand why retirement planning is ignored, we will continue to produce more elderly Ghanaians who worked hard, did everything right, and still cannot afford to stop working.

The Numbers That Should Keep Us Awake

Let us lay out the full scale of the problem, because the numbers are the only thing that can pierce the comfortable assumption that “it will work out.”

The Awareness-Action Gap

According to the 2025 Old Mutual Financial Wellness Monitor:

The trend is unmistakable: awareness is rising, confidence is falling, and action remains stubbornly low. More people understand the problem, but fewer believe they can solve it.

The Informal Sector Blind Spot

The informal sector is the largest segment of Ghana’s workforce, yet its participation in pension schemes remains critically low. According to the National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA), only 1.2 million informal sector workers—approximately 16 per cent—are currently enrolled in any pension scheme.

This means that the vast majority of market women, head porters (kayayei), spare parts dealers, hairdressers, tailors, masons, drivers, and small-scale farmers are working without any formal retirement plan. Their “pension” is their children, their savings under the mattress, or their ability to keep working until their bodies give out.

The NPRA has acknowledged that the informal sector “remains the largest segment of Ghana’s workforce, yet its participation in pension schemes continues to lag behind due to limited awareness, irregular income patterns and the absence of flexible, tailored pension products”.

The Priority Problem

Retirement planning ranks seventh among savings priorities for working Ghanaians. Ahead of it are:

1. Emergency funds

2. Children’s education

3. Business development/investment

4. Day-to-day expenses

5. Housing

6. Healthcare

This ranking is rational. These are immediate pressures. But it is also catastrophic. A thirty-year-old who delays retirement saving until age forty must save nearly twice as much per month to achieve the same outcome. A forty-year-old who delays until fifty must save three times as much. The delay compounds.

The editorial observation: The retirement savings crisis is not a crisis of ignorance. It is a crisis of prioritisation in a context of scarcity. When your rent is due, your child needs school fees, and your business needs working capital, the idea of saving for age seventy feels absurdly distant. The problem is not that Ghanaians are irresponsible. The problem is that survival today always trumps comfort thirty years from now. And that is a rational choice—but it is a choice with devastating consequences.

The Barriers: Why Ghanaians Are Not Saving

Understanding the barriers is the first step to overcoming them. The research identifies four primary obstacles.

Barrier One: Limited Income and Immediate Demands

The most commonly cited barrier is also the most straightforward: thirty-two per cent of those not saving for retirement point to more pressing short-term demands on their income.

When your monthly income barely covers rent, food, transport, and school fees, there is nothing left for a pension contribution. This is not a lack of discipline. It is a lack of surplus.

The implication: For low-income workers, retirement saving is a luxury they cannot afford. The policy response cannot simply be “save more.” It must address income adequacy first.

Barrier Two: The Extended Family Safety Net

Fifty-five per cent of working Ghanaians expect their children to support them financially in old age.

This is the traditional safety net—the extended family system that has cared for the elderly for generations. But this system is under strain. Smaller family sizes, urban migration, and the economic pressures on younger workers mean that the children who are expected to provide support are themselves struggling.

The “sandwich generation”—those with both younger and older dependents—has shrunk from 42 per cent in 2023 to 31 per cent in 2025. But that still means nearly one in three workers is squeezed between the needs of children and parents. The safety net is fraying.

The editorial observation: The extended family is not a pension plan. It is a social institution. And while it remains valuable—essential, even—it cannot be the sole retirement strategy for a generation that is having fewer children and living longer. The mathematics do not work.

Barrier Three: The Trust Deficit

Fifty-three per cent of those not actively saving say they fear losing their money if their pension provider collapses.

This is not paranoia. It is a rational response to recent history.

The 2017 to 2020 financial sector crisis saw the collapse of numerous fund management companies, microfinance institutions, and savings and loans firms. Many Ghanaians lost their life savings. Then came the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) in 2023, which restructured government bonds and affected the investments of many pension funds and individual savers.

The legacy of these events is profound. The Old Mutual report attributes the decline in investment confidence—from 21 per cent “very confident” in 2024 to 14 per cent in 2025—directly to “economic scarring from the recent crisis period”.

People do not trust financial institutions because they have been burned. And until that trust is rebuilt, many will keep their savings in mobile money wallets, under mattresses, or in susu schemes—safe from the institutions that failed them before.

Barrier Four: The Advice Gap

Only 13 per cent of working Ghanaians use a financial adviser. Nearly half (47 per cent) report being “unsure where to turn for financial guidance”.

Those who do use advisers are significantly more confident in their financial decisions. But for most Ghanaians, professional financial advice is either inaccessible (too expensive) or unknown (no awareness of where to find it).

The result is that many people make retirement decisions—or, more commonly, avoid making them—based on incomplete information and understandable fear.

The editorial observation: The advice gap is an opportunity waiting to be seized. Fintech platforms, mobile apps, and community-based programmes could democratise financial advice in ways that traditional advisory models cannot. But someone must build them—and Ghanaians must trust them.

The Structural Gaps: What the System Is Missing

Individual behaviour is part of the story. But the system itself has gaps.

Gap One: Employer Compliance

Under the National Pensions Act, 2008 (Act 766), all employers are mandated to register and pay pension contributions for their employees, regardless of the size of their workforce.

But many businesses do not comply. According to SSNIT, a large number of registered businesses never proceed to register their workers with the pension scheme. The consequences fall on employees—who work for years without pension contributions being made on their behalf.

In 2025, the NPRA deployed compliance officers across the country and recovered over GH¢27 million in outstanding contributions—representing only about 30 per cent of what was owed. The Authority also prosecuted a number of defaulting employers.

To address this gap, SSNIT has proposed amending the law to require that every business registered by the Registrar-General automatically obtains a Corporate SSNIT Identification Number. This would make pension non-compliance visible and enforceable from the moment a business registers.

Gap Two: Informal Sector Exclusion

The formal employment system covers only a fraction of Ghanaian workers. For the majority who work informally, the pension system has historically been inaccessible.

The NPRA has acknowledged this gap and is taking action. The Authority has developed a policy framework tailored specifically to the informal sector, including the introduction of a special-purpose pension scheme with “attractive incentives” to drive participation.

Additionally, the NPRA is launching a Pension Digital Ecosystem (PDE) —a comprehensive digital platform that will simplify registration and contribution payments for both formal and informal sector workers.

The Deputy CEO of NPRA, Victor Azuma Mejida, stated: “We have made significant progress and will soon launch the platform to commence implementation. We are optimistic that this initiative will greatly improve pension coverage, particularly among informal sector workers”.

Gap Three: Pensioner Welfare

Even for those who do contribute and reach retirement, the system does not always deliver dignity.

A group of 150 pensioners calling themselves “Pensioners for Reforms” petitioned the government in December 2025, citing:

• Erosion of reserves: ILO-commissioned actuarial projections indicate that SSNIT’s reserves could depreciate drastically in the coming years.

• Government arrears: SSNIT is owed billions of cedis, a large portion stemming from delayed government contributions.

• Inadequate payments: Monthly pension payments do not address health, housing, or social vulnerabilities.

• Governance concerns: Reports of political interference, discretionary investment decisions, and insufficient transparency undermine public trust.

The pensioners called for codified rights for retirees, including guaranteed indexation (protecting against inflation), transparent computation formulas, welfare support, and free access to health services.

The editorial observation: The pension system cannot encourage participation if those who have already participated are struggling. Every pensioner who cannot afford healthcare, who lives in inadequate housing, who depends on children for food, is a living advertisement for the failure of the system. Rebuilding trust requires demonstrating that the system works for those already in it.

The Cultural Dimension: Black Tax, Communal Support, and the Boundaries No One Sets

Beyond the structural and financial barriers, there is a cultural dimension that complicates retirement planning.

The concept of “black tax”—the expectation that higher earners will financially support their extended family—is deeply embedded in Ghanaian culture. It is not seen as a burden but as a responsibility. It is how the extended family system has survived.

But black tax can undermine individual wealth accumulation. A professional who is expected to fund siblings’ education, parents’ healthcare, and cousins’ business ventures may have little left for their own retirement savings.

The FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) movement, which encourages aggressive saving and investing to retire decades early, has gained global traction. But in Ghana, the movement faces unique barriers: economic instability, high inflation, currency depreciation, and the cultural obligation to support extended family.

The solution is not to abandon family support—that would be a betrayal of Ghanaian values. The solution is to set boundaries: a fixed monthly support budget, family involvement in financial planning discussions, and clear communication about long-term goals.

The editorial observation: The extended family is not the enemy of retirement planning. It is a reality. The question is whether it is managed intentionally or allowed to consume everything. The worker who supports family without budgeting for their own retirement is not being generous. They are being shortsighted. And their children—who will eventually be expected to support them—will pay the price.

The Macro Context: Recovery, But Not Yet Resilient

The retirement savings gap exists within a broader economic context that is improving but remains fragile.

The good news:

• Financial stress among working Ghanaians fell from 60 per cent in 2024 to 30 per cent in 2025.

• Confidence in the economy rose from 22 per cent to 48 per cent over the same period.

• Thirty-seven per cent of respondents report earning more than a year ago.

• Sixty-seven per cent report having less debt than a year ago.

The persistent vulnerability:

• Fifty-three per cent of respondents would exhaust their funds within three months if they lost their income.

• Thirty-nine per cent remain worried about losing their job or income source.

• Investment confidence has declined, with those rating themselves “very confident” falling from 21 per cent in 2024 to 14 per cent in 2025.

• Risk appetite has compressed, with those willing to take substantial financial risk dropping from 24 per cent in 2023 to 10 per cent in 2025.

Roy Punungwe, Group Chief Executive of Old Mutual Ghana, summarised the paradox: “The data tells us clearly that most Ghanaians remain financially vulnerable. Savings are largely short-term and informal, retirement planning is still not a priority, and confidence in making long-term financial decisions continues to decline. Beneath the optimism sits a real risk: too many people would struggle financially if their income was disrupted, even briefly”.

The Solutions: What Is Being Done

The picture is bleak, but it is not static. Several initiatives are underway to address the retirement planning gap.

NPRA’s Digital Pension Ecosystem

The NPRA’s forthcoming Pension Digital Ecosystem (PDE) is designed to simplify registration and contribution payments, particularly for informal sector workers. By leveraging mobile technology, the platform aims to remove the barriers of complexity and accessibility that have historically limited participation.

The platform is expected to launch in 2026. Its success will depend on adoption—and adoption will depend on trust.

Proposed Mandatory Registration Reform

SSNIT has proposed amending the National Pensions Act to require that every registered business automatically receives a Corporate SSNIT Identification Number. This would make pension compliance visible from the moment a business registers, closing the loophole that allows employers to ignore their obligations.

Old Mutual’s Financial Wellness Engagement

Old Mutual has committed to using the Financial Wellness Monitor findings to deepen engagement with working Ghanaians on long-term financial planning, with a focus on “rebuilding trust in formal savings and retirement products”.

Enhanced Enforcement

The NPRA has trained more than 40 prosecutors to strengthen enforcement efforts against defaulting employers. In 2025, the Authority prosecuted a number of defaulters and recovered over GH¢27 million in outstanding contributions.

The 24-Hour Economy and SME Support

The proposed 24-Hour Economy Authority includes plans for a credit insurance guarantee scheme that could reduce collateral requirements for SME loans. For informal sector workers running small businesses, access to appropriate credit could free up income for retirement saving—provided the financial discipline exists.

The editorial observation: These solutions are necessary but not sufficient. Technology can lower barriers. Enforcement can compel compliance. But neither can rebuild trust. That requires transparency, accountability, and demonstrated results over time. The pension system must prove itself worthy of trust before Ghanaians will entrust it with their futures.

A Practical Guide for Working Ghanaians

If you are a working Ghanaian who has not started retirement planning, here is a practical roadmap.

Start Small, Start Now

The single most important action is to start. Not “when I have more money.” Not “next year.” Today.

The action: Open a pension account (Tier 2 or Tier 3) with a licensed provider. Contribute whatever you can—GH¢20 a week is GH¢1,040 a year. The habit matters more than the amount.

Formalise Your Informal Savings

If you are keeping cash under a mattress or in a mobile money wallet, you are earning zero return and risking theft or loss.

The action: Move at least a portion of your savings into an interest-bearing account or a pension fund where it can grow. Even modest returns, compounded over decades, produce meaningful growth.

Understand Your SSNIT Contributions

If you are in formal employment, check that your employer is actually paying your SSNIT contributions. The NPRA recovered GH¢27 million in unpaid contributions in 2025 alone.

The action: Request your SSNIT statement annually. Verify that contributions are being made. Report non-compliance to the NPRA.

Set Boundaries on Black Tax

Supporting family is a value. But supporting family at the expense of your own retirement is a strategy that fails everyone—including the family who will eventually need to support you.

The action: Set a fixed monthly budget for family support. Communicate it clearly. Involve family in financial planning discussions. “I cannot give more because I am saving for my retirement” is not selfish. It is responsible.

Seek Advice

Only 13 per cent of Ghanaians use a financial adviser. Those who do are significantly more confident in their financial decisions.

The action: Ask your bank, your pension provider, or your employer about access to financial advice. Many offer free or low-cost advisory services that are underutilised. Use them.

Diversify Your Income

More than one in four Ghanaians are now “poly-jobbing”—combining formal employment with side hustles.

The action: If your primary income is insufficient, explore additional income streams. The goal is not just to earn more. It is to have income that can be directed toward retirement saving without competing with daily survival needs.

Do Not Rely Solely on Children

Fifty-five per cent of Ghanaians expect their children to support them in old age. But your children are facing their own economic pressures. The sandwich generation—those supporting both children and parents—is struggling.

The action: Love your children. Support them when you can. But do not make their future support your retirement plan. That is a burden you are placing on them, not a gift you are receiving from them.

A Policy Checklist for Government and Regulators

For policymakers and regulators, the evidence points to several priorities.

• Launch the Pension Digital Ecosystem (PDE) without further delay, with a focus on user-friendly design and trust-building communication.

• Implement mandatory SSNIT registration for all registered businesses, closing the loophole that allows employers to evade their obligations.

• Strengthen enforcement against defaulting employers, including prosecution and penalties.

• Address the government’s own arrears to SSNIT, which undermine the Trust’s financial sustainability.

• Implement pensioner welfare reforms, including guaranteed indexation, transparent computation formulas, and access to healthcare.

• Support financial literacy programmes at scale, particularly for informal sector workers.

• Encourage innovative pension products tailored to irregular income patterns, using mobile money and digital ID systems.

FAQ Section: Readers’ Top Questions Answered

1. Why do most Ghanaians not save for retirement despite knowing it is important?

The 2025 Old Mutual Financial Wellness Monitor found that while 92 per cent of working Ghanaians agree retirement saving is important, only 33 per cent have actively started. The primary barriers are: limited income (32 per cent cite more pressing short-term demands), reliance on children for old-age support (55 per cent), distrust of financial institutions following the 2017-2020 financial sector crisis and DDEP (53 per cent), and lack of access to financial advice (only 13 per cent use an adviser).

2. How many informal sector workers in Ghana have pension coverage?

According to the NPRA, only about 1.2 million informal sector workers—approximately 16 per cent—are currently enrolled in any pension scheme. The informal sector remains the largest segment of Ghana’s workforce, yet participation lags due to limited awareness, irregular income patterns, and the absence of flexible, tailored pension products.

3. What is the NPRA doing to increase pension coverage?

The NPRA has developed a policy framework tailored to the informal sector, including a special-purpose pension scheme with incentives. The Authority is also launching a Pension Digital Ecosystem (PDE)—a comprehensive digital platform to simplify registration and contribution payments for both formal and informal sector workers. The platform is expected to launch in 2026.

4. Is SSNIT financially sustainable?

Recent ILO-commissioned actuarial projections indicate that SSNIT’s reserves could depreciate drastically in coming years if current trends continue. Contributing factors include government arrears (billions of cedis owed to SSNIT), inflation-adjusted returns that are marginal, and governance concerns. A group of pensioners has petitioned the government for reforms including guaranteed indexation, transparent computation formulas, and welfare support.

5. What is “black tax” and how does it affect retirement planning?

Black tax refers to the expectation that higher earners will financially support their extended family. While this is a valued cultural practice, when left unchecked it can nullify wealth accumulation efforts. Financial advisors recommend setting boundaries: a fixed monthly support budget, involving family in financial planning discussions, and clear communication about long-term goals.

6. How can I check whether my employer is paying my SSNIT contributions?

You can request your SSNIT statement annually. If contributions are not being made, report non-compliance to the NPRA. In 2025, the NPRA prosecuted defaulting employers and recovered over GH¢27 million in outstanding contributions.

7. What is the FIRE movement, and can it work in Ghana?

FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) encourages aggressive saving (often 50-70 per cent of income) and investing to retire decades early. In Ghana, barriers include economic instability (currency fluctuations, inflation, high cost of living), the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme which affected government bond investments, and black tax obligations. However, with disciplined budgeting and a diversified portfolio, elements of FIRE can be adapted to the Ghanaian context.

8. Is the economy improving enough to make retirement saving easier?

Macroeconomic indicators are improving: financial stress fell from 60 per cent to 30 per cent, confidence in the economy rose from 22 per cent to 48 per cent, and 37 per cent report higher incomes. However, vulnerability persists: 53 per cent would exhaust funds within three months if they lost their income, and investment confidence has declined. The recovery is real but fragile.

9. What percentage of their income should Ghanaians save for retirement?

There is no one-size-fits-all answer. However, financial advisors generally recommend saving at least 15-20 per cent of income for retirement, including employer contributions. The current average savings rate from the Old Mutual survey is 24 per cent of household income—but this includes all savings (emergency funds, education, business), not just retirement. Most of these savings are short-term and informal.

10. What should I do if I have already reached retirement age with no savings?

Options include: the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme for extremely vulnerable elderly (though coverage is limited); support from extended family; continued informal work if physically able; and accessing any SSNIT contributions made during formal employment. The “Pensioners for Reforms” group has petitioned for expanded welfare support including free healthcare for pensioners. However, the most honest answer is that prevention is far easier than cure. The best time to start saving was twenty years ago. The second-best time is today—even if retirement is near, every cedi saved reduces dependence on others.

Conclusion: The Retirement We Are Building Today

Let me return to the man at the bus stop.

He did not plan to be dependent on his daughter. He worked. He paid his dues. But he worked in an era when retirement planning was not discussed, when the extended family was assumed to be sufficient, when formal pension coverage was for the lucky few who had “government jobs.”

His generation is the last that can plausibly claim they did not know.

We do not have that excuse.

The data is clear. The awareness is high. The tools—mobile money, digital platforms, new pension products—are becoming available. The barriers are known and, in many cases, addressable.

Yet the gap between knowing and doing persists.

The seventy-three-year-old at the bus stop is not a tragedy of the past. He is a prophecy of the future—unless we act.

Every working Ghanaian who reads this article and does nothing is choosing to become him. Every parent who assumes their children will support them is placing a burden on a generation that is already struggling. Every worker who does not check whether their employer is paying SSNIT contributions is letting their future be stolen in small, invisible increments.

Retirement planning is not exciting. It is not urgent. It does not deliver dopamine hits. It is the opposite of the instant gratification that our economy is designed to deliver.

But it is the only thing that stands between a working life of dignity and an old age of dependence.

The man at the bus stop is not a warning to the government or the pension providers alone. He is a warning to every single person reading this.

Start. Today. Not tomorrow. Not when you have more money.

Start.

Because the retirement you are building today is the old age you will live tomorrow.

Source: Accra Street Journal 

Last Updated on May 30, 2026 by Samuel Kwame Boadu

Samuel Kwame Boadu

Samuel Kwame Boadu is a Ghanaian media entrepreneur and storyteller with a passion for amplifying urban voices and uncovering everyday truths. He is the Editor-in-Chief and Founder of Accra Street Journal, a dynamic digital platform dedicated to capturing the pulse of Ghana’s capital—its people, culture, challenges, business, sports and innovations.

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