Pension investment

I am not a financial adviser so steer well clear of straying into the giving of financial advice to clients but I am often asked for information.

Pension contributions crop up on a regular basis and on a personal level I find myself swinging wildly from “yes a good thing” (particularly if the payer is getting higher-rate tax relief) to “no a bad thing” (falling annuity rates limited access to capital fund etc).

Generally I guess that the answer is that pension contributions should be part of a balanced portfolio and I restrict myself to the question of tax relief on them.

If the individual taxpayer has their own limited company then it always seems sensible that rather than withdraw funds simply to pay them into a personal pension plan the company should make the contribution (clearly...