The general financial area made up of pension plans is heavily reserved for the specific option of a retirement pension, as might also be referred to as an Old Age Pension. A retirement pension, or old age pension, can be offered in various forms, as might be determined either by the employer responsible for making the retirement funding plan available to her or his employees as an incentive for securing the use of employees and satisfying U.S. labor laws, or in other cases by the selection of the individual from the retirement pension options made available. 

An old age pension can be made available through various sources, as can include both governmental agencies and businesses. A retirement pension plan, as is generally designated as such in the United States, and might alternately be referred to as old age pension schemes in areas such as the United Kingdom, can be set at fixed rates, in which the employer agrees to secure payments to the employee at a certain amount, as will require regular contributions from both the employee and the employer, to varying amounts.

A retirement pension might also be set up by making investments into various kinds of stocks or other investment options. A retirement pension can also be referred to as deferred compensation, in which the employee agrees to hold off on receiving payments immediately and instead provides for the period after she or he no longer receives regular payments from steady employment, allowing for old age pension to satisfy financial needs.

The option for stakeholder pensions was made available in the United Kingdom in the 2001 period as a measure which was felt by the governmental figures who had created the program as a way of enhancing the ability of pension plan schemes, as a general method, to deliver consistent financial returns to plan holders. The Stakeholder Pension program thus went into effect for United Kingdom citizens in the April of that year. The option of stakeholder pensions was oriented specifically toward people in the lower to moderate range of the earning spectrum. 

Various requirements are set out by the Stakeholder program under law. In this regard, stakeholder pensions must be available to employees when the entire labor force of the prospective stakeholder pension plan provider numbers at least and possible more than five employees.

The stakeholder pension option is also geared toward being provided with less inconvenience than conventional pension plan options. According to reports issued on the success of stakeholder pensions, the stakeholder pension option had not largely fulfilled the goals which had been issued for it by the government. In this regard, discussion began in government circles over the possibility of altering the stakeholder pension into a similar but improved pension plan program referred to as Personal Accounts.

In general, the Stakeholder Pensions option will be provided using at least 3/4 of the funds contained in the program. Any Stakeholder Pension program which is set up will have to be registered with the Pensions Regulator oversight agency.

The issue of teachers pension plans have become controversial in the period following the beginning of the global financial recession in the late 2000 period, specifically in the United States. The teachers pensions options in this area is noted for making up a large section of the public expenditures as are required for the country.

Teachers pensions are accordingly made available to educators who retire after consistently and successfully serving a role in the educational system. News reports released in the 2010 period indicated that as much as $1 trillion in teachers pensions funds were required and, as of yet, not held by United States state governments in order to satisfy the obligations for teachers pensions as have already been made in promises to teachers employed in state educational systems. 

In this regard, the issue of teachers pension benefits have been particularly notable due to the problems with funding retirement benefits in the private sector. Teachers pensions have been noted and in some cases opposed due to the need for raising taxes in order to pay for teachers pension plans

 Moreover, controversy has also been raised over teachers pension due to the related possibility that other services, outside of the educational system’s sector, as were formerly made available through the government would have to be cut off or curtailed to some extent. To this end, concerns and predictions have been issued to the effect that teachers pensions are likely be raised in electoral campaigns and may be contested by political candidates and commentators as economic issues continue to face the country.

The self invested personal pension option is specifically made available through the specific system of the United Kingdom pension plan program, which has been passed into effect under the approval of government oversight programs. In this regard, the Self Invested Personal Plan option can be placed in the larger category of Personal Pension Plans.

In this regard, people who do not choose to secure Self Invested Personal Pension programs for themselves may opt for the alternative, in order to still gain access to some kind of Personal Pension Plan, of Stakeholder Pension Plans. 

Self Invested Personal Pension programs have been set up in order to allow people to more specifically direct the course of their pension plan funding by making the decisions as to the investments to be made according to their own judgment, rather than leaving these judgments up to the decisions of plan administrators or financial advice consultants, as might otherwise be the case.

To this end, it should be noted that the particular Self Invested Personal Pension decision which is made will have to come under the oversight of, as provides for one source of limitation, the HM Revenue and Customs agency, which approves investment locations which can be selected in this context. It should be noted, however, that any kind of financial product can be covered under the Self Invested Personal Pension program and the HM Revenue and Customs authority. Some financial products secured through the Self Invested Personal Pension option may, moreover, be tax exempt.