Abstract:
Older people have many and diverse needs including economic security.
But the extended family support system in its present state is inadequate
in the provision of protection for the elderly. The paper sought to
investigate how the breakdown in traditional pillars of social support for
older people is paving the way for newer appreciations such as retirement
preparation by individuals. Using mixed methods, qualitative and
quantitative datasets were collected from institutions and individual
workers, employing key informant and in-depth interviews, and survey.
The findings indicate that with the decline in the extended family support
system, retirement preparation by the individual is an alternative, if not a
complement, to the traditional support system. However, this noble course
is impacted by internal and external challenges. Nonetheless, it is
recommended that individual Ghanaians must undertake medium to large
scale savings towards retirement