#Know your pension type

A pension is a way to save money while you’re working to give you an income later in your life. 

You can get a pension from personal or workplace schemes you pay into and the government. The money you receive from your pension is known as retirement income.

You can begin to take money from your pension when you retire and [you can choose how you take it](/articles/what-you-can-do-with-your-pension-pot). This is the stage at which you can make a decision about how you want to receive your retirement income.

You don’t have to retire to take money from your pension. You can normally do this from the age of 55.

##Main pension types

Along with the State Pension, there are 2 main types of pension:

- a pension based on how much has been paid into your pot (this is known as defined contribution) 
- a pension based on your salary near retirement (this is known as defined benefit) 

##How much you get

For most pensions based on how much has been paid into your pot, what you get depends on:

- the amount you’ve paid in 
- the length of time the money’s invested 
- how well the pension fund’s investments have done 

For pensions based on your salary near retirement, how much you get depends on:

- the number of years you’ve worked for the employer 
- your salary (this could be your final salary or your average salary across your career with the employer) 
- a formula used by your employer to calculate your retirement income

##The State Pension

The pension you get from the government is called the State Pension. You get it when you reach [State Pension age](https://www.gov.uk/calculate-state-pension).

The most you can currently get from the basic State Pension is £113.10 per week. You don’t normally get it automatically - you have to [claim the State Pension](https://www.gov.uk/state-pension/how-to-claim).

If you reach State Pension age on or after 6 April 2016 you’ll get the [new State Pension](https://www.gov.uk/new-state-pension).

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