Which pension scheme is right for me?

Too many products and too many companies all trying to get you onboard with their 'amazing' pension scheme. All too confusing.

It is a retail market just like any other. Just walk into Tesco and see all the different things on the shelf. Or a mobile phone shop with all those different phones or PC world with all those different PCs.

Can anyone tell me what pension products you have and how they are working for you?

That would be a very bad idea. For example, I use a platform for my pension with whole of market access to investments (thats about 28,000 different investments available to me from across the investment universes). That is highly unlikely to be suitable for you. Whereas you may get someone else posting that they have the Virgin Stakeholder pension which they are happy with. They may be blissfully unaware that it is expensive and low quality.

and if it's worth paying for a financial advisor for help in these matters?

Best to avoid an FA. Your choice should either be an IFA or DIY. If you cant DIY and you are struggling then use an IFA. An IFA will not collect any commission from the product but their fee can be deducted from the pension. So, the cost is lower in the majority of cases than the old commission based products. Indeed, depending on your age and amount you are looking to pay, an IFA could come in chapear with fee than a nil commission stakeholder pension.

Before you decide on whether you should use an IFA or not, check with your employer to see if they have a pension which they pay into as well. If they do, the IFA will tell you to join it.