If you have a personal pension that only you are paying in to, then moving jobs will have no effect on this pension. Hopefully you will be moving to a better paid job so you might want to consider increasing your payments to give you a better pension but this is not essential.

If you had a company scheme then you can no longer pay money into it and understandably your old employer will also stop paying into it. Your options here are:

• Leave the money that has built up where it is. The pension provider will carry on investing the money you have built up.
• If the new company has a pension scheme then you may be able to transfer your money from the old scheme into the new one. It will depend on the terms of each scheme whether or not this is a good or bad move and you should get financial advice on this. Transferring would mean that all your money is in one place and you may find this easier to manage.
• If you find it beneficial to leave your money where it is you can still join the new scheme and pay into that. Then when you come to retire you can use the combined money from the two schemes to provide your income.
• If your new employer is not offering a pension scheme, they may consider paying into a personal pension plan. 

Taking the decision to retire early is a big step. Your pension fund will have had less time to grow and you are likely to be retired for a longer period so that money has to stretch a little bit further.

Some company pension schemes may have restrictions on them. Retiring early from an occupational pension scheme is usually only possible if the scheme rules and employer allows.

You can currently retire at 50 from a personal or stakeholder pension but this is going up to 55 in 2010. If you decide to retire earlier (or later) than your proposed retirement date, you should check with the pension provider what you need to do and whether there are any special circumstances you need to think about.

You can see how changing your retirement age can affect your pension with our pension calculator.

Getting married/forming a civil partnership

If you get married, form a civil partnership or start to live with someone, you may want your pension scheme to provide financial support for your partner if you were to die first.

Most occupational schemes offer a package of benefits that includes life insurance while you are working and a pension for your spouse, civil partner or dependants if you die.

Not all schemes provide a pension for a partner who is not married or in a civil partnership. You may be able to add benefits by paying additional voluntary contributions or giving up some of your own pension.  Same sex couples have the same rights as opposite sex couples in this area.

If you have a personal or stakeholder pension you choose whether to add benefits for your dependants. Most pay out something - for example, the value of your pension fund - if you die before retirement. Adding a pension for your partner is an option your provider can help with.  Any additions you make could mean that you need to save more or accept a reduction in your own pension but you would have the peace of mind that your loved ones are taken care of as well.

To discover your current position in this area you can read your policy documents or speak to your financial adviser or pension provider who will have the information readily to hand.

An alternative way to ensure that your partner has a pension would be to encourage them to start a stakeholder pension (or personal pension) and for you to make payments from your own resources into the policy for them.

Getting divorced/dissolving a civil partnership

As with most things connected with divorce/dissolving a civil partnership your pension can become quite complicated. You can apply to the court for a financial settlement. A court must take the value of any pensions held by the couple into account when dividing the family's assets. Even if you do not use a court, you should still consider your pension position.

A court can make several orders in relation to your pension and we don't intend to try and explain all of them here as each situation can be different. What you need to remember though is that your pension funds do need to be included when settling your divorce or dissolving a civil partnership.