Survival in an outdoor pond depends on your climate and the size of the pond. Where I live goldfish do well in ponds, but have to come indoors for the winter unless the pond is several feet deep. Pond keeping is hot right now so there is lots of info out there and lots of helpful productis. Heres a link to a store with archived articles on ponds.
http://www.ponddoc.com/WhatsUpDoc/newsevent.html