Published: 09/02/2026 By Oliver O'Brien
Welcome to our first insight of our Pension Knowledge series. We’re going back to basics with this one – what is a pension and why would you need one?This is an important question as we often see many misconceptions on what pensions do and how they work. This can knock people’s confidence and lead to under saving, resulting in long term damage to their retirement plans.
Pensions are one of the most tax efficient and best ways to save for retirement. One of the biggest objections we see is a reluctance to “lock away” money till your 50s. While it may seem a long way away you are statistically likely to survive to 67 and also then live into your 70s and 80s. “Locking away” that money can only been seen as a good thing, as you are going to need it!
And pensions are the best way to go about this kind of saving because of their tax efficiency:
- Full income tax relief
- Tax-free growth
- Employer contributions, if available
- Tax-free allowance of 25% at retirement
The sooner you start putting money into a pension the better, but it’s never too late to start!
We created a short explainer video about Pensions:
Talk to a tba advisor today to start your pension journey.