A pension is the placing of money into a fund to achieve growth over time by making use of various tax advantages. There are various different types of pension schemes available to individuals. They fall into the two categories of personal and occupational pension schemes.

Many people do not remain in the employment of any one employer for the whole of their working lives and therefore may have accrued different pensions schemes in different places or companies over time. Some people may have both occupational schemes and personal pensions and be unsure of what these arrangements are worth, what they are and what they are entitled to do with them. This information can be obtained and recommendations made in the effort of organising the various pension arrangements into the best options for the individual.

In the main, on retirement there two options available to a person in respect of both personal and occupational regimes. The first is use the whole fund to produce an income. The second is to take a proportion of the fund as tax free cash and the remainder as an income via an annuity.

Generally, a pension is an excellent investment for long term growth in a tax efficient manner. It has; tax relief on contributions at the individual's highest tax rate into the pension, is allowed to grow in a tax free environment and allows you to withdraw a certain amount as tax free cash on retirement.