You should start saving as soon as possible. If you start making small, regular pension contributions as soon as you start work you will have many years to grow a decent sized retirement fund. The sooner you start saving for your retirement, the longer your money has to grow, and the bigger your pension pot will be.  While it may seem a long way off to start saving for a pension when you are in your 20s or 30s, you can start with small contributions and increase them when you get a pay rise.  When you save into a pension the government gives you an incentive in the form of tax relief. This means that you get extra money paid into your pension fund in addition to the contributions you make. Everyone can get tax relief on their pension contributions, up to a certain level. You can get tax relief up to 100% of your annual earnings, although in practice not many people would be able to make a pension contribution that is equivalent to their total salary.