Benefits Management, Inc.

Plan Design - Through the many types of plans available and the options for designing those plans within IRS guidelines, Benefits Management Inc. is able to develop a custom designed Retirement Plan for each of their clients.

• Defined Benefit Plans - These plans can still be used effectively to provide a plan sponsor with flexibility, a competitive benefit program and a significant accumulation of benefits at retirement. The benefits of this arrangement are a guaranteed level of retirement income and a significantly larger contribution requirement for older higher paid employees.
  Contributions to the plan are not limited to 100% of pay or $45,000 but instead are based upon the amount of deposit needed to provide a particular level of income at retirement for each participant. Owners may be able to deposit and deduct in excess of $100,000 a year on their behalf. Generally there is a required deposit to the plan each year but good investment return and aggressive pre-funding of the plan will allow for flexibility in contribution levels from year to year.
• Target Benefit Plans - These plans provide similar disparity in contribution levels for older higher paid employees but the annual limitation on contributions is based upon the lesser of $45,000 or 100% of compensation. This plan requires that the employer make a deposit each year.

• Age Weighted Profit Sharing Plans - With complete flexibility in contributions from year to year, this plan also provides disparity in contribution amounts for older higher paid employees but the overall contribution to the plan is limited to 25% of covered payroll. The individual maximum limits for individuals of $45,000 and 100% of their pay still apply.

• Money Purchase Plans - These plans provide a fixed level of contribution to each eligible employee based upon a formula and their pay for the year. At retirement, the participant receives the value of their account, whether up or down. This plan requires that the employer make a deposit each year. The annual contribution limit for employees is the lesser of $45,000 or 100% of pay.

• Traditional Profit Sharing Plans - These plans provide complete flexibility in contributions from the employer from year to year subject to the overall maximum amount of 25% of covered payroll. Employees earning in excess of the Social Security taxable wage base may receive a slightly higher percentage of pay than employees who earn under the taxable wage base.

• 401(k) Features - The 401(k) feature can be added to a Profit Sharing Plan to allow for pre-tax savings by the employees.  And if you are 50 or over, you may be eligible to deposit up to $5,000 as a "catch-up" deposit each year.  All of the rules related to profit sharing plans apply to 401(k) plans plus the additional requirement to test the deferral percentages of the highly compensated employees vs. the non-highly compensated employees.

Communication - In order for any benefit program to be effective and worth the time and money spent to operate it, it should be properly communicated to employees. We can work together with your staff and/or your investment counselors to communicate the plan to the participants using employee meetings, handouts or slides.

Administration - All plans must meet the operational requirements of the Internal Revenue Service and must provide timely information to the participants and the sponsor. Our in-house computer system is designed to help us provide these services to our clients efficiently and accurately. We can design our reports to meet your specific needs as opposed to forcing you to fit into our reporting capabilities.

As a part of the ongoing administration, we also prepare all of the annual reports that must be filed with the IRS and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation as well as any required participant disclosures.

Consulting - As rules and regulations are passed that affect qualified plans or as trends cause employees and employers to re-think their needs, Benefits Management, Inc. is there to assist you in analyzing these changes and in determining how best to alter your benefit programs to meet these changing requirements.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board requires employers who provide certain post-retirement benefit packages (health insurance, life insurance, legal services, day care, tuition assistance, etc.) to disclose certain actuarial information on their financial statements.

Benefits Management, Inc. is able to assist in this regard with the preparation of the required disclosures in a format that can be used directly by your auditors in the financial statements.