5 things you need to know about your pension

It's Pension Awareness Day on 15 September, so make time now to maximise your retirement

- By Faith Archer

Building up pension savings can make the difference between scraping by on the state pension and living it up in retirement. Choosing when and how to withdraw the money can be more tricky, so it's also worth exploring your options for the future.

1 You can snap up free money

The big benefit of paying into a pension is that the Government adds free money on top. Every £1 you pay into a pension should get an extra 25p added in basic rate tax relief, for contributions up to 100% of your earnings, a maximum £40,000 a year. If you are a higher rate or additional rate taxpayer, you can claim back extra tax relief through your tax return.

2 Some of your pot is taxable