It was even worse pre 1975 when it got upgraded carriage-wise.

Ah, pensions. I've been looking into getting one of these (I'm 24), but no idea where to begin and what's best for me.

Don't worry, what's best for you will be decided by a totally impartial advisor.

Then your fund will not be be seen as a cash cow and the investment performance will not be dismal and finally at the end of it all the annuity rate will not be poor.

Your pension will be one you can depend on and your retirement will be comfortable ... trust me I used to be a financial advisor.

lol

You left out the bit about a retirement spent cruising the world on your pension.

I didn't think my wife would approve.

Beware of anyone offering independent financial 'advice'. They will probably recommend the policy that makes them the most commission. 25 years later you will be trying to track down them / their insurer to bring a claim for a mis-sold policy.

Take out a SIPP and do it yourself without the need of an advisor.You will need to do some research though , dont do it blind.

Funny things personal pensions. The big selling point is if you are / become, say,a 40% taxpayer you get £100 of savings for each £60 you contribute. The downside is your money is locked up and no longer belongs to you. Not only that but when you take an annuity you lose the capital you saved (which an annuity provider - insurance company - swipes).



To save for a decent pension you'll need to contribute c. 20% of your gross pay through your working life (which most people can't afford).

I was told 12% (for my age, and obviously the later you leave it to save the more you'll need to contribute in the future - source: BBC News or DWP) but basically the advice is to avoid at all costs and drop everything into a savings or ISA?







What is one of those?

Grrrr ... don't get me (or Jerry Chicken) going on ISAs.





With having largely had irregular earnings over the last 15 years, I opened two ISAs – one, an ordinary one, and the second, taking a bit more of a gamble.



The former got the point, a couple of years ago, that it was gaining me something like £10 every six months. It's taken seven years or so for the second to even get back to what I'd put in.



You're better with an ordinary savings account, frankly – and fortunately, since the crash, those seem miraculously to have become available again.



One of the things I most detest about today is that you're expected to be an expert in every damned thing you need, because so many companies have utterly ditched real ideas of customer service.

Do what the supposed pension investment experts do - look for companies that pay a high dividend - if you had put your money into say BP not only is it very low risk in the long term the return on the investment is two fold: capital growth, since October growth has been 12% and dividend yield is 4,5% so if you invested £3k that would be worth £3,360 plus you would have had £135 in dividend so a growth of near £500 on your £3k investment. A tad better than an ISA!! - 3k invested in St Ives PLC a year ago is now worth a staggering £4,875 - thank goodness for those share save schemes!!

Self Invested Personal Pension. I got one as I had a works pension with Aviva or Norwich Union as it was called. Absolutely useless they are. When the pension lost money during the bull period around 7 or 8 years ago it was the last straw for me. With the Sipp you decide which funds , stocks and shares your pension is invested in.If it loses money its my fault. I didnt see why I should pay fees to a useless company to lose my money.