4-If you were previously in a final salary pension how did your employer effect the transition and what advice were you given regarding your investment strategy
When my previous emplyer went through this process our final salary scheme was frozen at the point of transition. I was given the option of starting a new scheme with an empty pot and leaving the accrued benefits in place with the old scheme (index linked to retirement) or converting the final salary benefit into a 'pot' of money to put into he new scheme. Just about eveyone elected to do the former as the benefit was guaranteed and therefore the company still has to pay up even if investment returns in the future are not been as good as they need to be to grow the pot.
It really depends on how long you've been in a final salary scheme. In my case it was 10 years which was far to good a benefit to give up and risk.
As Charlie A states your looking at roughly 5% return on investment in retirement. Again, very very roughly, to work out how big a pot you need sit down and work out what retirement expenditure you will need and convert that to an annual figure (not forgetting tax)multiply up based on 5% ROI and you will get a scarily large number which is your retirement pot requirement (in todays money). Add in inflation and voila, your final retirment target figure.
Unfortunately I am now in a crap defined contribution scheme and therefore supplimenting my pension contributions with other savings schemes to make up the shortfall, although things aren't as bad as I feared before looking at all the figures.
If I were your I'd run through the above process with a reputable IFA. Most work on no fee and, at the end of the day, you're not comitted to investing with them at all. However they will be able to go through the maths with you and the process will give you a good idea about where you stand which may not be too bad.
Good luck