You probably already know that you need to plan for the ESOP repurchase liability – the cost of buying back shares from terminated ESOP participants. But, you may not understand exactly what that liability is and what the ESOP fiduciary's role is in that process. This article explains repurchase ...
[Read more] about ESOP Repurchase Liability Planning: Fiduciary Issues
ESOP Refinancing: Fiduciary Duties
At some points in the life of the ESOP loan, you may find it advantageous or necessary to refinance that debt. This article examines the factors fiduciaries should consider, including the benefit of the refinance to the company versus the benefit to the ESOP participants; the impact on current ...
[Read more] about ESOP Refinancing: Fiduciary Duties
ESOP Diversification Myths And Misunderstandings
Diversification – that often misunderstood process by which "qualified participants" can elect to have some of the shares in their ESOP account distributed to them in cash or rolled over to other investment options. Read this article for a basic overview of which participants have ...
[Read more] about ESOP Diversification Myths And Misunderstandings
Health Reimbursement Arrangement Can Be Used To Convert Unused Vacation And Other Leave Into Nontaxable Welfare Benefits
In the employee benefits arena, employers and advisors are often looking for ways to convert taxable wages or benefits into nontaxable benefits. One method that the IRS has recently recognized involves an employer's adoption of a "health reimbursement arrangement" (HRA) and then "converting" what ...
[Read more] about Health Reimbursement Arrangement Can Be Used To Convert Unused Vacation And Other Leave Into Nontaxable Welfare Benefits
Equity Plan Comparison
Stock-based compensation is a staple of senior executives and key management employees in privately held companies. In public companies, it is typically broad based as well. In both publicly traded and privately held companies, employees are almost uniformly interested in a piece of the pie and a ...
[Read more] about Equity Plan Comparison
Pension Investing: A Bird’s Eye View, Part I
Most retirement plan fiduciaries (either the trustees or the persons responsible for making plan investment decisions) get lost in a forest of competing investment choices, pursued by a pack of financial "advisors" who have the "best" way to invest retirement plan assets. Admittedly, there is no ...
[Read more] about Pension Investing: A Bird’s Eye View, Part I
Ready-To-Wear – Some Distinctions Between “Customized” And “Off-The-Rack” Benefit Plans
Employee benefit plans - both retirement plans and welfare plans - like clothes, come in all shapes and sizes. While some plan sponsors have their plans "custom tailored" by their employee benefits attorneys and pension consultants, many companies and small business owners are pressured financially ...
[Read more] about Ready-To-Wear – Some Distinctions Between “Customized” And “Off-The-Rack” Benefit Plans
Equity Option Plan Comparison
Stock-based compensation is a staple of senior executives and key management employees in privately held companies. In public companies, it is typically broad based as well. In both publicly traded and privately held companies, employees are almost uniformly interested in a piece of the ...
[Read more] about Equity Option Plan Comparison
A Step Beyond ERISA SECTION 404 (C): Improving On The Participant Directed 401(K) Investment Model
Improving on the participant-directed 401(k) investment model...
Introduction
Much of the retirement plan community has been focused for over a decade on participant-directed 401(k) plans. As competition for 401(k) plan business has intensified among plan providers, there has been greater ...
[Read more] about A Step Beyond ERISA SECTION 404 (C): Improving On The Participant Directed 401(K) Investment Model
Confused by the terminology? Check our Glossary of Terms