Do you really need to contribute as much as possible to your pension? SIMON LAMBERT

Should you worry about paying more money into your retirement?

I realize this sounds both controversial and the opposite of our usual encouragement to boost your retirement savings, but bear with me.

While our politicians indulge in some more pointless arguments about the state pension, it’s worth thinking about how that, our work and personal pensions, and other savings and investments fit together.

Because if the goalposts are moved when you access your pension, this could have a greater effect on the way we want to enjoy our pension than the state pension.

I am 45, so my state pension age is currently officially set at 68.

Ideally, I would like to retire before then – or at least have the option to do so. My father died ten years ago, only 66 years old, a few years after he retired. That focused me on hopefully being able to stop working before my official retirement age.

It has always been my plan to let my work retirement savings do the heavy lifting. I have two small Sipp pots, but most of my pension investments are in my defined contribution scheme.

Saving for your company pension is a smart move: it gives you tax relief and contributions from your employer – and the sooner you do it, the richer you will ultimately be. Read our guide to how pensions work.

But while savers can currently access their work or personal pension from the age of 55, I’ll probably have to wait until I’m 58.

This is thanks to rules that limit when you can access your pension and link this to ten years before the state pension age.

The risk for people like me, in my mid-40s, or those younger, is that we are far enough away from state pension age that we will be in double jeopardy for pensions if a future government decides to end them. to balance the books.

I’d like to think that the threat of a major backlash would mean that politicians wouldn’t suddenly raise both the state pension age and the date on which we can access our pension savings, but it could happen.

The knock-on effect of a large increase would be to drastically reduce people’s ability to retire early or step back from full-time employment.

None of the main political parties appear willing to discuss or plan for the state pension funding problems facing Britain, which only increases the risk.

For example, the triple lock has improved the state pension for those who currently receive it, but increases the likelihood that those of us who work and pay into those pensions will have to work longer.

In extreme cases, this leads to a question that I often get from people in their twenties, thirties and forties: do we even get a state pension?

My response is usually that I cannot see the state pension being abolished for all, as this would represent a fundamental disruption of the British economic contract. But it’s not impossible.

A measure of the interest here is our recent column by Steve Webb on whether the state pension could ever be means-tested. This is Money’s third most read article last month, with more than 500,000 views.

A good financial mantra is not to rely solely on your state pension.

The solution is usually to start paying out a company pension – or a Sipp if you’re self-employed – as early as possible and make the most of the tax breaks on offer.

I would certainly always suggest that it is wise to maximize the contributions you can get from your employer, by paying as much as it takes to get them.

Moreover, I think that the arguments for paying more into your pension are not always clear.

I focus most of my extra investments on my stocks and shares Isa. This is what I expect I will rely on to supplement my income when I ease back into work in my late 50s.

The problem is that an Isa requires more discipline because you can use it at any time.

I always say: the major disadvantage of a pension is that you cannot access the money. And the big advantage of a pension is that you cannot access the money.

It would substantially improve the country’s financial planning and confidence if we could have an equally long-term commitment to the pension rules we will face.