Nairobi, June 22 -- Only about one in four working Kenyans has any form of pension saving. Yet nearly 84 percent of the workforce earns a living in the informal economy. Together, those two figures reveal a basic challenge; millions of Kenyans may be working today without a clear financial pathway for life after work.

For years, retirement conversations have focused on ageing populations and increasing life expectancy.

While these concerns are valid, they risk distracting us from a more immediate reality closer to home.

Kenya's greatest retirement risk is not that people are living longer. It is that too few people are preparing financially for those longer lives.

This is not simply a question of personal discipline. It reflects how o...