me_irl

Because a lot of pension plans are very disappointing. They for example offer a 'guaranteed' minimum intrest of up to 2 % per year, but don't forget the 'management costs' they charge. That's very very low compared to regular inflation. Pension funds exist to make pension fund managers, traders and banks rich (now, not later) and so that the government can point at them and say "it was your own responsibility!" instead of offering ALL weak and old people enough to cover basic needs. And that's to "motivate" as many people as possible to work as much as possible. If relatively young right now: you're probably better off putting money away in time deposits with higher guaranteed intrest than putting it in pension funds. Or ETF/random stock picking for those who feel lucky. The state subsidies to choose pension fund instead of time deposit or direct market investments is in many cases also misleading: you get tax cuts when depositing into the pension funds, but you get taxed when you get paid out at pension age. All differs a lot in different countries, but the core of it is pretty similar all over I think.

I didn't get the benefit of a final salary pension. I have also not worked long enough at any particular company to really benefit from a big pot. The longest I've worked for one company is ten years, I think the company was paying in as little as possible. When I looked at a forecast for the pay out from that one, it was about £100 a month.