Pensions are a frightening thing - 5 years delay can wipe a few grand a year off your return so save, save, save!

I know people only just starting to put money away in their forties and they have to put in 30% of their income to even come close to getting a decent amount when they retire. The earlier you can start the better, even if it's just a small amount because of the compound interest effect.

You can't rely on a state pension being there (particularly in my case as I've got almost 50 years to go at present) and even if you do get it, do you really want to live on pittance a week?

I use this to estimate what my pension will work out like and so far I'm not putting in enough and I probably need to at least double my contribution over the next 5 years, but I expect to do that more through salary increases than percentage put in.