Cash in a pension

[Gill.Mackie]

Is there any way I can get the money out of my pension? I am 35 and have paid into it for appx 18 years and its worth gets less every year. I would like to put the cash into an ISA or use it as a deposit for a 2nd property but from what I have read I cant touch the pension pot - is there any way round this? Is it possible to "sell" it in any way?

[CheekyChops]

The simple answer is no, you can't.

[dasherman]

You can't access it until you're at least 55.

The most you can do is transfer it to another pension provider with better performing funds.

[Whoever]

No you can't touch it until you're 55. The only good thing at the moment is that you have plenty of time before retiring for the value of your pension fund to rise and for performance to improve. However, this may be an appropriate time for you to decide that your future retirement income needs to be spread across more than one basket, and the other option for you is to start building up some cash ISAs, putting as much as you can in them every year up to the �3600 p.a. allowance, as as you can draw income from these at any age. Income from pension schemes is taxed. Income taken from ISAs is not taxable.