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@blackburn_stevie wrote:

A bloke I know has a dilema.  What we are trying to work out is how old would you have to be to make it a viable proposition to have a works pension as opposed to saving the same amount of cash in a high interest savings account.

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The younger you start and the more you put in the better.  When I started work we had a choice of 3% or 6% contributions - being young and ignorant I chose to pay the lower rate for six years - that choice will cost me at least five grand a year on retirement.  There is nothing I can do to "catch up".

There are also the tax breaks mentioned above - you don't pay tax on pensions contributions, but any savings you put away come out of your taxed income.

So for example, if your take home pay is £1000 a month, and you decide to put £100 a month into a savings account, you will have £900 left. 

If you decide to put £100 a month into a pension, it comes out before tax, so you will have £920 left.- you only contribute £80 of your take-home pay for every £100 you pay into a pension.