most of the advice on these posts recommend making a contribution to pension before oct 31 deadline to reduce tax liability for 2010, if paying tax at the higher tax bracket over 40%, however if paying tax at the lower 22% limit is it really worth it? my understanding is that to save 1000 euro in tax you would have to make nearly a 5000 euro contribution to pension, also the pension im in has been losing money ( i know all pensions are down because of markets), so my thinking is that it is not worth it. I have investments outside of pension and i have been making money on these investments, but i dont get any tax advantage for this and i also have to pay capital gains tax. My current situation is that i make the minimum contribution to pension in order to gain maximum company contribution, any extra money i invest myself outside of pension even though i am penalised from a taxation point of view