These are investment plans which lets one allocate a part of the savings to accumulate over a period of time which will also provide one with steady income post retirement. These are very helpful since savings tends to exhaust very quickly and are used in times of emergency which leads to a person not having enough money at the time of retirement. They are retirement amounts one gets from the insurance companies on a regular basis or in the form of a lump sum. This enables someone to develop a sizeable corpus through regular investment which on maturity gives a regular monthly income which helps in taking care of one's post-employment years.
These types of plans are long term plans where one pays a small and regular premium which builds to retirement corpus. So if someone buys this plan at a young age then he can save a sizeable amount by the time of retirement which he can use for anything. The longer one stays invested in a pension plan, the more amount he/she gains at the time of retirement. These kind of plans are flexible. Based on one's financial risk appetite one can choose an investment theme ranging from aggressive to balance to conservative.
It is the age at which the pension holder will start to receive the retirement amount. Depending on the age at which one plans to retire he should set his/her vesting age in the plan.
One should go for a plan which gives higher sum assured on vesting and accrued bonuses or benefits. It will make things simple and better for you post-retirement.
One should go for plans which have a minimum payment in case of holder's death. Some plans also come with the option of riders where in case of holder's death the pension is continued to be paid to the rider.