[iron25]

This whole 'sooner is better' only seems a good idea if you are paying into a company pension scheme that is a final salary scheme. This schemes work out your pension on the number of years that you have contributed and the value of your final salary. So the longer you stay with the company and contribute, the better. However, it has been reported that alot of companies are beginning to or already have done so, stop new members from joining their final salary pension schemes.

Generally, if you begin contributing to a pension at around 20, you would normally contribute a small amount and like most people have said here, the returns on such small amounts is not great by any means. They say that the later you leave it, the more you have to pay per month, however, the older you get you usually earn more and therefore can afford to contribute more. It would seem to be a bit of a struggle for someone to afford to pay into a pension as well as try to afford to buy a house.

If the property market was not so ridiculous as it is now, then the best way to secure your old age would be to get several buy-to-let mortgages. Renting out a property means that the monthly mortgage payment is already covered by the rent you get and after 25 years, you can sell the property without having paid a penny to buy it.

Most people assume that a pension is the best way to go and in most cases this is correct but like I mentioned there are other ways to secure your future. It's just a case of deciding what suits your needs. I don't think contributing to an ISA or savings account will give you enough returns over the years what you need to do is find long term investments and property & land has always been the best long term investment.