Three in four working Ghanaians lack confidence in their retirement savings, according to the 2025 Old Mutual Financial Wellness Monitor released this month, even as broader economic conditions show their strongest improvement in three years.
The annual survey covered 656 employed Ghanaians aged 20 to 59 earning at least GH¢1,200 per month, weighted to reflect a 70:30 informal-to-formal sector split. The proportion lacking retirement savings confidence has now risen for three consecutive years, from 56 percent in 2023 to 61 percent in 2024 and 74 percent in 2025. Only one in three respondents had actively started saving for retirement.
The findings expose a deepening contradiction. Financial stress among working Ghanaians fell sharply from 60 percent in 2024 to 30 percent in 2025, the lowest level since the survey began. Confidence in the broader economy climbed from 17 percent in 2023 to 48 percent in 2025. Thirty-seven percent of respondents reported earning more than a year earlier. Yet retirement ranked seventh among savings priorities, behind emergency funds, children’s education, and business development.
Roy Punungwe, Group Chief Executive of Old Mutual Ghana, acknowledged the tension directly, saying “most Ghanaians remain financially vulnerable” despite the improving headline numbers.
Trust remains a structural obstacle. Fifty-three percent of those not actively saving for retirement said they feared losing their money if their pension provider collapsed. The finding points directly to the lingering fallout from the 2017 to 2020 financial sector crisis and the subsequent Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP), both of which eroded household confidence in formal savings institutions. Meanwhile, 47 percent of respondents said they did not know where to turn for financial guidance, and only 13 percent used a financial adviser.
The fragility runs deeper than the retirement figure alone. More than half of respondents said they would exhaust their funds within three months if their income stopped. Willingness to take substantial financial risk fell from 24 percent in 2023 to 10 percent in 2025, a compression the report attributes to economic scarring from the recent crisis period.
Savings behaviour has shown improvement in certain areas. The proportion of respondents dipping into savings to cover daily expenses fell from 61 percent in 2023 to 12 percent in 2025. Bank accounts and mobile money remained the dominant savings tools, used by 57 percent and 50 percent of respondents respectively. Susu participation rose from 37 percent to 44 percent. Formal long-term instruments remain largely untouched.
The income level of respondents made little difference to the retirement confidence gap. Among those earning above GH¢3,001 per month, the highest income band surveyed, 66 percent still lacked confidence in their retirement provision. The mean confidence score across all income groups was 4.9 on a ten-point scale.
Old Mutual said it would use the findings to deepen engagement on long-term financial planning and to rebuild trust in formal retirement products among working Ghanaians.
