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Executive Benefits

Attract, Retain,
and Reward Leaders.

Gideon extends compensation and benefits expertise to key executives in your organization, integrating their individual benefits, including deferred compensation programs, pensions, retirement plans, and employee stock options, into ythe company's comprehensive financial strategy.

Gideon's approach helps maximize the financial rewards available to executives while minimizing the tax burden for both the executive and the company, creating outcomes that attract and retain the leaders your business depends on.

Executive Benefit Programs

Nonqualified plans and supplemental arrangements designed to reward key talent beyond the limits of qualified retirement plans.

Nonqualified Deferred Compensation (NQDC)

Allow executives to defer a portion of salary or bonus into a tax-deferred plan, creating a supplemental retirement benefit beyond the IRS limits on 401(k) and other qualified plans.

Supplemental Executive Retirement Plans (SERP)

Company-funded pension-style arrangements that provide executives with defined retirement income, often informally funded with corporate-owned life insurance (COLI) to match future obligations.

Corporate-Owned Life Insurance (COLI)

COLI policies held by the company on key employees provide a tax-advantaged mechanism to fund executive benefits, key-person protection, and balance-sheet-efficient employee benefit liabilities.

Split-Dollar Life Insurance

A cost-sharing arrangement between employer and executive that provides meaningful death benefit and accumulation value, often used as a supplemental compensation or retention tool for senior executives.

Equity Award Integration

Gideon coordinates your stock options, RSUs, and performance shares with your overall tax and wealth plan, timing exercises, managing concentration risk, and optimizing after-tax outcomes.

Section 162 Bonus Plans

A simple and flexible bonus arrangement where the company bonuses the executive premium dollars for a permanent life insurance policy, providing the executive with a personal asset funded by the company.

Who These Plans Serve

Executive benefit programs are most impactful for C-suite leaders, key revenue producers, and business owners whose compensation significantly exceeds qualified plan limits.

, CEOs, CFOs, and C-suite executives at private and public companies
, Physicians and partners at professional practices
, Senior attorneys and law firm partners
, Key producers at financial services firms
, Founders and equity partners at closely held businesses
, Private equity portfolio company management teams

Why Nonqualified Plans?

Qualified plan limits are inadequate
401(k) contribution limits ($23,000 in 2024) are meaningless to executives earning $1M+. NQDC plans have no statutory caps.
Tax-deferred compounding
Executives defer income today, allow tax-free compounding, and draw distributions in lower-tax retirement years.
Company tax deduction timing
The company receives its tax deduction when the executive actually receives, and pays tax on, the distribution.
Retention engineering
Vesting schedules and forfeiture provisions make NQDC plans powerful retention tools for key talent.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a Nonqualified Deferred Compensation (NQDC) plan?
A Nonqualified Deferred Compensation (NQDC) plan allows executives to elect to defer a portion of their salary or bonus into a tax-deferred account before taxes are withheld. Unlike 401(k) plans, NQDC plans have no IRS contribution limits, making them particularly valuable for highly compensated executives who want to accumulate substantial tax-deferred wealth beyond the qualified plan thresholds.
What is a SERP and how does it differ from a 401(k)?
A Supplemental Executive Retirement Plan (SERP) is a company-funded defined benefit arrangement that promises executives a specific retirement income supplemental to their qualified plan benefits. Unlike a 401(k), the company, not the executive, makes all contributions and bears investment risk. SERPs are often informally funded through corporate-owned life insurance (COLI) policies.
What is Corporate-Owned Life Insurance (COLI) and how is it used?
Corporate-Owned Life Insurance (COLI) is a life insurance policy owned by and payable to the company upon the death of a key employee. Companies use COLI as a tax-advantaged vehicle to informally fund nonqualified benefit liabilities, hedge the cost of executive benefits, and provide key-person protection. The policy's cash value grows tax-deferred, and death benefits are generally received income-tax-free.
What is a Section 162 Executive Bonus Plan?
A Section 162 executive bonus plan allows a company to pay ('bonus') the premium for a permanent life insurance policy owned by the executive. The company deducts the bonus as compensation, and the executive owns the policy personally. This provides the executive with a growing personal asset funded by the company, without the complexity of a trust or formal plan document.
How do executive benefit plans help with talent retention?
Nonqualified deferred compensation plans and SERPs can include vesting schedules and forfeiture provisions that create powerful 'golden handcuff' effects. If an executive leaves before a specified date or condition is met, unvested amounts are forfeited, providing a meaningful financial incentive to remain with the organization.

Design Your Executive Benefit Plan

Schedule a confidential consultation with Gideon's advisory team to discuss how PPLI and alternative investments can enhance your portfolio's tax efficiency.