Whilst you may think that a pension provides your income in retirement, this is not true for all pension schemes, which fall into two main categories:

Pension income – provides you with an income in retirement.

Pension fund – provides you with a lump sum of money to be used to provide a retirement income. You then use the money to buy a product that will provide you with a regular income (annuity), or take an income from the lump sum on an ad hoc basis.

The pension scheme you are in makes a big difference to the decisions you need to make for your retirement and it also affects the options available to you from your pension. So you need to be clear about these from the outset.