A pension should be thought of as a part of your overall retirement planning strategy.

Whether you are employed or self employed you will usually pay national insurance contributions. This means you will be eligible for a basic state pension. This is fine for a start but it will not be enough to give you the standard of living you want in retirement which could last 20 or 30 years-or longer, so you need to be prepared as you could be living on your retirement income for a long time.

Pensions are long term investments which you usually pay into throughout your working life. You get tax relief on the money you pay in and this money is invested in stocks, shares and other investments to try and make it grow.

When you retire your pension fund is converted into pension income which is paid to you for the rest of your life.

When deciding on a pension you should try to focus on how much income you may need, work out how much you will want to spend using today's price levels.

In deciding to use a pension as part of your retirement planning it is a good idea to start investing in one as soon as possible. If you delay making this commitment by just a few years you could end up with a much smaller pension when you decide to retire.

You should remember that a pension is a long term investment and currently cannot be taken until you are at least age 50, this minimum age will be increased up to age 55 by 2010.

GUIDE TO PENSIONS This guide aims to give you a simple overview of the various types of pensions available and how they work. Click here for more information. FIND A PENSION Let us do the work for you. Complete our online pension enquiry form. Click here for more information.

WHAT MIGHT I GET? Includes a table to give you a guide to the estimated monthly pension at today’s prices. Click here for more information. GET ADVICE Grosvenor Trust & Savings, established in 1989, has years of experience providing pension advice. Click here for more information.