No money
Pensions in most sectors, not just aviation are taking a beating and I think anyone with an ok pension in the future will be taxed so massively by our governments (to provide for those with no pension) that im not sure a typical pension fund is the best use of ones money anymore. The only folks that will escape this will be the 1% that have 99% of the money, and of course the self serving politicians making up the rules.
I have a simple quick calculation that I have used for years to give a rough Idea of how much funds you need in a pension pot (any pension pot as they all follow the same pattern, but some you have to pay into and some your employer does) to give you an annual pension figure. So for example if you have a pot of 100,000, take off a zero and divide by 2 then knock 15% off, this gives you a reasonable idea for the majority of savers. So 100k will give you approx 4.25k per year before tax as a pension,and thats generous on the calculations! I dont bother with inflation as most funds account for this but the buying power will be more or less the same today as in 20 years, just the numbers will be higher. If for example, you want to take a pension today and need say 20k as a yearly pension, then you will need around about 460k in a pot to get that! Most people, even well paid pilots will never save that amount so theres definitely going to be higher tax and lower returns in future. Dont put all your eggs in one basket and good hard cash saved will help.
Also a posters earlier mentioned about property and putting 300k into one. Theres two ways of doing property, the first is to buy looking for the value of the property to increase over time. This is risky but can offer good returns in the long run and only if your in a fantastic area for investment. Ie London etc. The second is to buy in a area that is way cheaper and commands a better monthly yield over the cost of ownership. The value of these properties doesn't go up so much over time but the the monthly rental and yield is often better and provides a monthly income thats affordable between tenants. MTW