LIKE exam revision, trips to the dentist and filling out tax returns, saving for retirement is a virtuous task that we all mean to do — just as long as we don’t have to do it today.

Grant Taylor, a recruitment consultant, is one 29-year-old with convincing reasons why his pension pot is, as yet, almost entirely empty.

For a start, he says, how much money does an old person need? Even though he and his wife, Sarah, a 29-year-old primary school teacher, earned and spent £85,000 last year, surely they will be quite content on £10,000 a year when they are in their dotage? “We don’t need much money,” Grant says. “We don’t have flashy cars, we don’t buy designer clothes and we aren’t interested in keeping up with the Joneses.”

So where does that £85,000 go? “You need more money when you’re young,” Grant says. “You have a mortgage to pay, children to provide for and home improvements to make. Most of our money was spent on the house last year.”

The couple have a mortgage debt of £200,000 on their £276,000 London home, which costs £1,093 a month. They also pay £252 a month into two endowment policies. Childcare costs for their two-year-old daughter, Holly, are negligible thanks to the support of family and friends.

Putting money into property is the main reason why Grant feels secure without a pension. “I think it is a safer investment,” he says. “Even if a house falls down, the land is still worth something. And you can live in property and enjoy it, which you can’t do with a pension plan.

“I never worry about house prices. There is too much demand and the trend against marriage will probably continue, with lots of people wanting to own properties by themselves.”

Grant will earn a basic gross salary of £58,000 this year, with potential for £7,000 of bonuses. “I have made a sideways career move,” he says. “My basic salary has gone up, but I expect bonuses to be lower in the first year, while I am learning the ropes. I will earn perhaps £10,000 less than last year overall.

“I don’t mind because it is more important to me to have a higher basic salary. It gives more security.”

A pension scheme does not figure as part of the employment package, so Grant has been left to his own devices. Even if he can be persuaded to take the pension route, he is reluctant to let pensions make up more than “20 per cent or 30 per cent” of an investment portfolio.

“I find pensions too inflexible,” he says. “If I die at 66, neither myself nor my family will have got back anything for all that money. Your funds go to other people instead. I also think the risk factor is too high with pension funds.”

Grant has no plans for an early retirement because he is the type of person who likes to keep busy. “I’m quite practical,” he says. “I enjoy working with my hands. Alongside my recruitment career, I want to learn plumbing and carpentry. There’s always work there.”

But from the age of 60 onwards, he would prefer work to be an option rather than a necessity.