Plan Options
Glass Retirement Strategies (GRS) is an industry master at matching your situation, needs, and goals with the kind of plan design that will best serve you. We will guide you in balancing the many factors for consideration, including employee satisfaction, personnel recruiting and retention, the ratio of highly compensated to non-highly compensated participants, the maturity and financial status of your firm and your industry.
Once a program is chosen, we will help you formulate a Statement of Funding Policy, write an Investment Policy Statement and decide how to install effective systems, procedures and operational forms to ensure efficient ongoing plan administration.
401(k) Plans qualified under section 401(k) of the Internal Revenue Code are the fastest growing today. 401(k) Plans offer tremendous flexibility to employee and employer alike, by providing a tax-advantaged method of saving for retirement. Each employee essentially chooses how much compensation to take now, and how much to save for retirement. The amount saved escapes current taxes and grows tax-free until distribution.
Defined Benefit Plans are historically the more traditional retirement plan methodology, in which, upon retirement, employees receive set monthly benefits for life (or a fixed period of time). Although large companies have been shying away from this type of plan recently, smaller companies have taken particular interest in them because this plan works well for firms seeking to benefit primarily older owners and/or higher lever employees. Such plans also provide employees with the security of determinable benefits and allow excess earnings on plan investments to reduce future employer contribution.
New Comparability Plans and Other Cross Tested Plans are considered as hybrids because they combine features of both Defined Benefit and Defined Contribution Plans. Similar to Defined Contribution Plans, there are individual accounts for each employee. Similar to Defined Benefit Plans, contributions are based on actuarial projections, and are therefore generally weighted to the older employee, such as the firm’s owner.
Profit Sharing Plans are funded exclusively by the employer and employees are not setting aside any of their own compensation for tax-advantage savings, as in a 401(k) Plan.
Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) are a form of profit-sharing, but the plan's assets are primarily invested in the employer's stock instead of outside funding instruments. (Upon payout, participants can choose either cash or stock.) ESOPs conserve cash outlays while creating tax deductions, and give you certain advantages in buyout situations. They can, however, dilute stock ownership and invite employee scrutiny.
Simplified Employee Pensions (SEPs) can be the simplest, least expensive form of plan to administer. SEPs are basically group IRAs to which the employer makes the employee contribution. Although SEPs are the only company-sponsored retirement plan for which a tax return is not required, liberal eligibility, funding and vesting are mandatory.
GRS can tailor any of these plans, or combine them with others, to serve the unique needs of your firm and its employees.