If you are an employee, the very first thing you need to do is find out from your line manager or HR representative what pension benefits the company offers you. Even if they don’t have a company scheme you can join, they should give you details of a stakeholder scheme (unless the company is very small, ie less than five employees).

They should also be able to explain to you, in plain language, the benefits and terms and conditions of the company scheme. If there is any aspect of the information that you don’t understand, take the information to a financial adviser (FA) and ask them to explain it to you. Usually, it is a good idea to join your company pension scheme if you can, particularly if the company pays into it as well. You can always take out an additional personal pension if you want to.