Occupational Pension / Company Pension Scheme

A company must provide access to a stakeholder pension scheme of their choice, if they have more than five employees. This means the employer makes the contributions, from the employee's salary, to the company pension scheme on the employees' behalf. It gives you, as an employee, the opportunity to save for your retirement, by having the amount deducted from your salary. However it is not compulsory that you join the company pension scheme.

There are two main types of company pension:

Defined Benefit or Final Salary - this is where the company pension is determined by calculating a proportion of an employee's salary at retirement age (usually one sixtieth) and multiplying it by the number of years of service. Depending on how much has built up in the company pension and how well the investments have performed, the employer could stand to gain any extra that is left over. However the company may also have to make up the difference of the pension fund.

Defined Contribution or Money Purchase - basically this is the amount that has been put into the company pension with the final amount depending on how well the investments have performed. With this form of occupational pension you must buy an annuity, that will provide you with a regular retirement income. The annuity rate will also affect the final pension amount.

Click here for free information brochures about other ways you can invest your money to prepare for your retirement

As your company pension can rely on the performance of investments, and there is the risk that you could end up with a smaller pension income than you expected, many financial advisers recommend that you consider other types of investment such as buy to let properties and ISAs in addition. Also it is not a good idea to get all your financial products from the same provider.

Please feel free to use the links below for more occupational pension information.

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	Find Company Pension Resources at Ask.com Whatever type of pension you're looking for, find it with Ask.com. Browse a wide range of providers and find what you need in seconds.