Get the latest ideas, advice and inspiration
Useful and interesting recommendations, personalised to you, straight to your inbox. Covering travel, health, lifestyle, jobs and more.
Pension Types
Learn about the different types of pensions and how to build them up
There are three main ways you might build up a pension that can help give you an income when you retire. These are the State Pension, workplace pensions and the ones you set up yourself.
In our Pension Types section, you can learn about the different types of pensions, such as defined benefit and defined contribution pensions, how much State Pension you might be entitled to, and where to get help if you want to start saving into a pension for the first time. If you’re nearing retirement, you can also read up about drawdown and annuities in our guides.
Defined benefit and defined contribution pensions
Find out what defined contribution and defined benefit pensions are and how they work. Learn how to build your pension pot over time and how you can access your savings in retirement.
State Pension
Most people build up entitlement to the State Pension throughout their working life by paying National Insurance contributions. The State Pension often forms the foundation of your retirement income, and our guides help you to understand what you need to know about it, including how it works, and how to increase the amount you receive at retirement.
Workplace pensions
If you are working in the UK, chances are that you have been auto enrolled into your workplace pension scheme. Here we discuss everything you need to know about workplace pensions, how auto-enrolment works and how you can navigate your pensions.
Personal & private pensions
Contributing to a personal or private pension is a great way to save towards retirement so you can fund the lifestyle you want after you stop work. Here we explain what personal and private pensions are, how tax relief works and the different options available to you.
Drawdown and Annuities
If you’re nearing retirement, now might be a good time to start considering your options for receiving an income from your pension. If you have a defined contribution pension you can, for example, choose to take an income from your pot by using pension drawdown, or buy an annuity in return for a guaranteed income. Here we explain how pension drawdown and annuities work, and where to get further help.