The process of recruiting, retaining, and rewarding exceptional talent poses a huge burden on small and large business owners alike. The threat of having a major income-producing salesperson, or the key engineer, or the head programmer leave an organization for a competitor is something that can keep a business-owner from many a good night’s sleep.
Properly structured Executive Compensation strategies (in addition to the more commonplace employee benefit programs like 401k plans and qualified stock ownership plans) are critical to recruit, retain, and reward key personnel. Often called Golden-Handcuff strategies (as they are designed to hold onto key personnel with the promise of large payouts at a certain time in the future), these plans require competent and experienced advisors to help with their design and implementation.
These strategies, commonly referred to as Non-Qualified Plans (in contrast to the more commonplace employee benefit programs like 401k/profit sharing plans and qualified stock ownership plans) typically fall into one of the following categories:
- Supplemental Executive Retirement Plans (SERPs)
- Non-Qualified Deferred Compensation Plans
- Phantom Stock Programs
- IRC Section 162 Executive Bonus Plans
Each of these plans can solve a particular organizational goal, and they can be used individually or in some combination with each other. Along with our clients’ legal and financial advisors, Myerson Wealth can help create, implement and fund strategies to recruit, retain, and reward these key executives.