If I put some extra money into my pension scheme, I will get the tax back on that portion of my salary.
A higher rate taxpayer will get an instant boost of about 40%, which will be added to the investment capital.

Are there any pitfalls to this apart from the obvious ones of:

• Pension fund may go down (many indices are falling, but it would have to fall by 40% to lose money)
• I won't get the money until I'm 60.

Other than these points, is there anything fundamentally bad about putting spare cash into a pension?

Is it effectively a 40% saving account?

Mr.Mangle.

I pay the maximum AVC (15%) into my company pension which I opened in 2002 (perfect timing) and has gone exponential since.

I also have a SIPP which I dump spare cash into. If this goes tits up I only have myself to blame.

Millions of sad cynical sods, influenced by advocacy journalism will be retiring into poverty. The sad sad ******* are totally oblivious to the fact that those who have been dismissing conventional pensions in recent times are likely property VIs.

Real investment is for the long term, all else is speculative.

Someone wise once said "those who understand compound interest are destined to receive it, those who don't are doomed to pay it."