For most of British history, retirement was entirely up to you.

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There was no state pension, no employer scheme – you worked until you couldn't, and then you leaned on your family or your savings.

But from the end of the Second World War to the mid-1980’s, there was a golden window in which someone else basically guaranteed you a comfortable retirement. Companies provided retirement schemes which locked in a reliable income (called “final salary schemes) and the state pension sat underneath as a backstop. Anything you wanted to save on top of that was the cherry on the cake.

That window has been closing since the 1990’s and is now basically shut. Companies don’t offer those kinds of schemes anymore, and the state pension certainly isn’t enough to offer a comfortable living on its own. A government commission warns that many future retirees are on track for a worse deal than today's pensioners.

And that’s if the........

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