When I started work, it wasn't a question of choice. I was paying into a pension from 21 because I worked for big companies and you had no choice. I also had no choice when all my contributions were repaid to me when I left these companies because to become a deferred pensioner I had to work for them for 5 years and I hadn't.
Even when I returned to work after my home-based years I couldn't join the pension scheme, because I worked part time and part timers were excluded from the pension scheme
So it wasn't until I was 40 and returned to work full time that I could actually join a pension scheme and I immediately started paying Additional Voluntary Contributions as well as the standard amount. Every time I got a pay rise, I increased the amount I paid in AVCs, until I reached the maximum amount allowed by the government, which was 17.5%.
I had intended to work until 65, even though I could get the state pension at 60, but when I was in my mid 50s, my employer had to make major changes to the way it was run and cut its labour force by 35,000. They set up a very generous redundancy scheme and if you were over 50 it was exceptionally generous so unless you were very sure of your future, you grabbed the chance and left. I decided that although I did not want to go, it was in my best interest to do so. As part of the redundancy package, I could invest most of my redundancy money into the pension fund to buy extra pensionable years, so I did.
When I stopped work, I found it impossible to get another job, but I had a small pension from the day of my redundancy and I continued to make voluntary contributions to my state pension.
When I was 60 I got my state pension, not a full one, but with Graduated Pension and some of my SERPS, it is above the basic level and my occupational pension went up as well as I started to receive the extra pension my AVCs earned so I receive about half the pension I would have got if I had worked for my employer for 40 years. I actually worked 11.
I have been fortunate to have a career with a high enough salary to be able to afford to contribute voluntary as well as compulsory payments to an occupational pension.
But before the late 1980s, many women and some men were unable to save into works based pensions because of all the rules about minimum contribution records and the exclusion of part timers from pension schemes.