Executive Benefits

Given the current competitive business environment, an executive benefits program is essential in recruiting top tier talent who will contribute to your company’s growth and profitability. A well-designed and implemented executive benefits program provides incentives that help attract new executives and retain talent over time.

We design, implement, and administer executive benefit plans that enable you to selectively reward key employees and top executives of your business. Our cost-efficient executive benefit plans supplement restrictive qualified retirement and group insurance plans. Our programs are designed to help meet the personal needs and goals of executives within the context of the overall corporate financial goals of your business.

Employee stock options and programs like 401(k) plans are a good start, but they may not meet the financial expectations of the most talented executives. Executive employees want to enjoy a rewarding retirement, with a sense of financial wellbeing, by establishing confidence in their investments early on. We are consistently chosen as trusted corporate advisors because we carefully evaluate costs and benefits, while continuously exploring additional possibilities for better programs to help executives achieve their financial goals.

 

BEYOND THE 401(K)

For many executives the annual investment limit in a 401(k) plan may be too restrictive. Deferring compensation can be a solution to limitations in traditional qualified plans, such as the 401(k). Nonqualified deferred compensation plans allow deferral of various forms of pay, including base, bonus, commissions, and special incentives, without the cap on the dollar amount saved or contributed. This opportunity may make it easier for executives to pay for other important expenses, such as tuition payments or the purchase of a home.

 

INCLUDING PERFORMANCE PAY AND INCENTIVES IN DISABILITY PROGRAMS

In an era that has emphasized stock options and bonus compensation, executives may find their performance pay is not part of their current supplemental disability equation. Highly compensated employees usually fall short in plans designed to deliver a percentage of base pay “only” as disability benefits, even if income is tax-free. This is simply because of the disproportionate amount of total compensation arising from incentives, bonuses, stock options, and other forms of contingent compensation. Therefore, supplemental disability plans can be designed to give executives the opportunity to cover these other sources of compensation.

 

SUPPLEMENTAL EXECUTIVE RETIREMENT PLANS

Supplemental Executive Retirement Plans (SERPs) help solve challenges with retention and motivation issues, helping retain and reward executives critical to the continuity of your company’s success. SERPs are a viable and popular alternative for top long-term executives concerned about the concentration of their post-retirement wealth in stock options. Although not without risks, a SERP may permit executives to self-direct the return on their account balances.

401(k)/Retirement Plan Services

Plybon & Associates, Inc. is focused on offering retirement plan solutions that help maximize efficiency, maintain plan compliance, and reduce fiduciary liability exposure. These solutions include, but are not limited to:

  • 401(k) employee deferral plans
  • Defined benefit plans
  • ERISA 403(b) plans
  • Non-qualified deferred compensation plans
  • ESOPs
  • Profit Sharing plans

Through our key industry associations, Plybon & Associates, Inc. has access to extensive resources and expertise in the areas of benchmarking analysis, open architecture plan analysis and design, investment due diligence, and comprehensive employee communications, employee education strategies, and fiduciary oversight.

Plan Design & Compliance

In the world of retirement plans, only one thing seems certain: change is constant. Over the last decade, Congress has burdened plan sponsors with an overwhelming volume of legislation, making continual review of retirement plans essential. It is critical that the legal, compliance and design aspects of a plan are current.

While legislation dictates uniformity for certain plan features, recent changes in law are aimed at increasing employee participation and restoring some of the incentives and benefits previously lost by plan sponsors.

Plybon & Associates, Inc. will review the design and operational features of your company’s plan, from an unbiased perspective, focusing on:

  • Increased employee deferral limits and employee tax credit incentives
  • Increased employer plan contribution deduction limits
  • The relationship between loan incidence and plan participation
  • Tiered and Age-Weighted discretionary contribution formulas
  • Online participant access for account balance inquiry and changes
  • Key personnel Internet access to plan and participant data
  • Paperless enrollment
  • Electronic transmittal of payroll, loan and distribution transactions
  • Automatic enrollment/negative election
  • Controlled Group plan set-up and design alternatives
  • Optimum frequency and educational content of employee communications
  • Complying with 404(c) investment guidelines and requirements
  • Management of the conversion/transition process