With a personal pension plan you can make regular monthly or yearly payments as well as one-off payments. Because of the tax benefits the Government sets limits on how much you can pay into the plan. Non-earners can contribute a maximum of £3,600 a year and earners can pay 100% of income up to £255,000 into their pension. You can change or even stop your contributions, or transfer your savings into another pension fund at any time. Even your retirement date can be flexible and when you do retire you can take 25% of the fund as a tax-free cash lump sum and the remainder will give you an income for life.