Click to plan your retirement

When it comes to signing up for financial products online, most internet shoppers are happy enough to register for a credit card, buy insurance or open a savings account.

Most people are, however, understandably reluctant to buy online an item as complex as a pension without advice. The introduction of low-cost, easy-to-understand stakeholder pensions could change all that.

Stakeholders were introduced by the government to put a stop to the confusion surrounding hidden charges on traditional personal pensions, and also to make saving for retirement accessible to a wider audience.

The rules surrounding stakeholders say charges must not exceed 1 per cent a year (excluding dealing and stamp duty) and contributions can be as low as £20 a month. The structure of stakeholders means more people will feel comfortable buying without advice - and the internet provides a quick way of doing this.

However, despite the apparently transparent structure, all schemes are not the same and it is worth shopping around. Some providers, such as Standard Life will not accept applications online, but recommend going through an independent financial adviser.

According to the occupational pensions regulatory authority (Opra), there are 47 registered stakeholder schemes. However, many are aimed at employers only. Of those available to individuals, only a few allow you to apply online. A good place to start is a site dedicated to the new pension, Stakeholder.co.uk. This has news and information and a list of registered schemes.

Three of the best sites are from bigger providers: Norwich Union, Legal & General, and Virgin. All allow users to apply online and are excellent at providing information about stakeholder in general and their own schemes.

Virgin is the best for ease of use (if you can put up with Richard Branson's cheesy grin). The site also features a pensions calculator to help you work out your retirement fund based on different levels of contributions.

The Legal & General site has a thorough application facility: it makes you go through the financial service authority's (FSA) decision trees before you apply, to help you decide whether a stakeholder pension is appropriate for you. It also has a button that you can click at any time for a live text-based chat with someone from its support team.

Norwich Union is offering a discount to those who apply online, cutting its 1 per cent annual management charge to 0.9 per cent.

Other sites that take online applications include HSBC, Scottish Widows and Abbey National.

Some sites, such as Marks & Spencer, allow you to apply for an information and application pack online, but require you to complete the transaction by post or face-to-face.

All the sites that allow you to buy online require you to pay by direct debit, or as a one-off lump-sum credit card payment, and all are required by law to offer a cooling-off period. This means you can cancel your application up to 14 days after submitting it.

If you are in any doubt as to whether stakeholder is for you, use the internet to exam ine different products, then follow up with independent advice if you need it.

Other useful sites include Opra's and Inland Revenue.