Mutual Funds are an excellent vehicle to plan for retirement. Mutual funds enable you to have equity exposure, but help reduce the risk through diversification of the portfolio. This is very helpful during the accumulation years. Not only that, while many are tempted to opt for a pension plan instead of mutual funds for post-retirement financial requirements, but the fact remains that mutual funds can serve this purpose very well also. Here are the reasons you need to know while choosing between mutual funds and pension plans.

Flexibility: 

Mutual funds are more flexible than pension plans. There are usually no restrictions on making any partial or entire withdrawal at any given point of time.

Tax Efficient: 

Mutual Mutual funds are very tax-efficient. While Pension income is added to other incomes for taxation, in case of equity mutual funds, long-term capital gains are tax-free up to Rs 1 lakh, and in case of debt funds, it is levied after indexation.

Transparency: 

Mutual funds are more transparent as compared to pension plans as you can easily access all the information that you want regarding a mutual fund. With the help of mutual funds, one can easily plan for a secure future and minimise the risks involved.

Withdrawal Stage Flexibility:

Even here, Mutual Funds offer safe options, with tax friendly features, with complete flexibility to plan the withdrawal amounts & duration. Monthly Income Plans are an example of such a Mutual Fund scheme. Debt Funds also serve this purpose for more conservative investors.