Saving into a pension plan is never going to be exciting, but it will build up a fund that will be used to give you an income when you no longer want to work, so it is really important.

The Government provides a basic State pension when you reach State pension age, although this age is due to rise in the future. Currently, for most people, this starts when you’re 65, although for women born before 1955 it will be earlier.

Living on this alone is challenging for anybody. Currently a single person can collect up to £90.70 a week or for couples it’s up to £145.05 a week. But these amounts can also be affected by your individual circumstances, such as how long you’ve been working and the amount of income tax you pay.

So, if you want to enjoy the years when you are no longer working, it’s clear that you’ll need to boost this amount yourself. Also, to encourage people to save themselves, pension rules give lots of tax advantages.

To start with, you automatically get basic rate tax relief now on any payments you make into your pension plan, these are called contributions. At the current rate of tax, this means that for every 80p you pay into your pension plan, the Government gives you another 20p - making a total of £1. What’s more, you don’t have to be working to do this and if you pay higher rate tax, it’s even better as you can get even more tax relief through your tax return.

Now, whether you make regular contributions or single lump sum payments, they all go into a ‘pension pot’. This pot is then invested into funds which pay almost no tax. Then later on, when you want to take your pension income, you can take up to a quarter of your pot as a lump sum, on which you pay no tax. The rest of your pot is used to give you an income, but you will pay tax on this.

There are still some limits on the amounts you can save and get tax relief on. Your financial adviser is an expert in this field and can give you details, in depth information and advice on all the various pension products and their tax advantages.