<prompt> Human: Basically, I contribute a large amount of my paycheck to a pension plan which I cannot opt out of around 15 every two weeks. If I stay with the government for 35 years or so, Ill get a pretty decent pension at around 80 of my income until I die.But Im also 28 right now, and I have no idea if I want to work for the government for the rest of my life. But Ive been working for them since I was 25 and have no real retirement savings of my own, so I dont really know what to do if I leave. I have quite a bit of money contributed to my pension plan already.So I guess my question is, should I start my own RRSP or TSFA? Im in Canada. I guess I also need to figure out what happens to all the money I contributed if I ever decide to leave... Assistant: If you chose to leave prior to retiring you will receive your contributions back which you can later put into your own choice of retirement fund.Remember the difference between RRSP and TFSA, its all about when you pay taxes on the money when you withdraw it.-TF you pay taxes immediately, no taxes when withdrawing it, but no tax refund for your contribution -RRSP you dont pay taxes on the money until you withdraw, when you do withdraw that money is added to your yearly income so you may put yourself in a higher taxbracket but you get a tax write off when initially purchasing RRSPsIMO, the key thing is when do you expect to withdraw the money, if its less than 5yrs then go TF, if youre not going to touch it for 10yrs go RRSPJust my 2 cents Human: I guess my question is if Im already contributing 15 of my paycheck to my pension, does it make sense to contribute another 10-15 to an RRSP? I mean, my budget isnt obscene, but if I could keep the extra money to build up my emergency fund, that would be kind of nice...  <response>: Yes, it absolutely makes sense. When I worked for the government I had to contribute 12 to my pension. I saved another 15-25 in a 457 American and then got my contributions with no interest back when I left. I would build up an emergency fund first 3-6 months and then save the rest toward retirement. Your future self will thank you. 