No pension for those in 20% tax-band??

'If you are on the 20% band,don't bother with a pension'.This comes from your guide - is this still the case?What is the alternative?

That is simply Brendan's view and not everybody would agree with him on that. In most cases everybody needs to plan for their retirement and a pension is the most suitable vehicle in many cases. I think the issue that Brendan tried to point out (a bit too bluntly in my view) was that somebody who is in the standard rate band all of their working life could accumulate a pension which would then be taxed at the higher rate. I guess the key question is how likely is this to happen and how should this influence one's plans.