Personal Pensions
Regular savings for your retirement
A Personal Pension Scheme is your own private financial plan for retirement, and can be set up independently of any other pension plans to which you may contribute.
You can obtain a Personal Pension Scheme from a pension provider such as a bank, building society or insurance company. They will then invest your contributions - and when you retire, the fund you've built up over the years will be used to buy you a regular income for the remainder of your life (known as an annuity).
Obviously, a Personal Pension Scheme is particularly important when you don't have access to an Occupational Pension Scheme.
Personal Pension or Stakeholder Pension?
Which of these two schemes you choose depends on what suits you best, so you need to consider factors such as:
- Pension terms and conditions
- How much the pension provider charges
- Flexibility of the scheme, should your circumstances change
- Reputation of the pension provider
- Past results
- Penalties for changing schemes
- Required levels of contribution
- How much control you have over where your money is invested