ABSTRACT This paper examines how historical and institutional factors shape retirement preparedness among informal workers in Ghana, with attention to colonial labor legacies. Drawing on qualitative data from 40 informal workers in Accra and Kumasi, the analysis identifies four interrelated themes shaping retirement experiences: economic capacity and asset ownership, social networks and support systems, perceptions of retirement, and institutional exclusion from formal protection systems. These themes are examined through a typology of thriving, intermediate, and hand‐to‐mouth workers. The findings show that retirement in the informal economy is not an event, but a differentiated process shaped by historical inequality, economic position, and access to support systems. Workers with stronger asset bases experience retirement as a gradual withdrawal from work, while those with unstable incomes remain in continuous labor. Informal support systems remain important but are constrained, while Ghana's pension system continues to exclude most informal workers through designs anchored in formal employment. The study contributes to debates on aging and informality by linking historical institutionalism with lived retirement experiences. It demonstrates how institutional legacies structure outcomes and highlights variation within the informal economy through a typology of retirement preparedness. Expanding pension coverage requires approaches aligned with livelihoods and income needs.
Isaac Kwaku Frimpong (Wed,) studied this question.