Even for affluent clients, pre-funding death expenses with discounted dollars remains effective. Life insurance is uniquely able to deliver a specified pool of tax-free liquidity at exactly the time needed to cover final expenses, debt, liquidation, taxes, probate costs and bequests.

When planning for a key person incentive program, it's important to gather the right information. This simple worksheet provides a place to list their current salary, basic underwriting points, the employer's budget for coverage, and the type of plan that best fits the key employee.

Selecting the right key person incentive plan doesn't have to be complicated! This roadmap guides the conversation with business owners looking to implement a restricted bonus, nonqualified defined benefit, lump sum deferred bonus or key person plus plan to retain a key employee.

Key person retention solutions are a common advanced planning request. With a competitive employment market, business owners are ready to take the next step to retain key employees. This guide covers how life insurance can be used to develop an employee bonus structure.

You may have clients holding on to a surprisingly large concentration of stock in a single company. At older ages, diversifying may be in their best interest. Life insurance can act as a noncorrelated asset, providing a natural hedge against the market risks of concentrated stock.

When it comes to recruiting and retaining key employees, nonprofits are limited due to IRC Section 457. Here are three executive comp plans that help nonprofits including split-dollar, restricted executive bonus arrangement (REBA) and nonqualified deferred compensation.

An effective executive benefit program must meet the objectives of both the employer and employee. This concept examines the structure and design of three plans: nonqualified deferred compensation, restricted executive bonus arrangement (REBA) and split-dollar arrangement.

When corporate tax rates are lower than individual income tax rates, owners seek to retain capital in their businesses. Many keep a large part of their working capital in conservative, liquid assets but should consider maximum funding corporate-owned cash value life insurance.

A company that routinely bids for large contracts needs to maintain a large pool of working capital, usually held in conservative assets. The cash value of life insurance can be counted as liquid working capital for bond underwriting and while providing a better return.

Like all high-income earners, highly paid employees of non-profits reach a point where they'd prefer to defer some of their current taxable income. In the summer of 2016, football coach Jim Harbaugh struck a split-dollar plan with the University of Michigan that's become legendary.

A product-based bonus plan allows an employer to pay for an insurance product on an employee's life. The employee owns the policy, but the employer may restrict access to cash value through a special policy endorsement, commonly referred to as “golden handcuffs.”

If aging business owners want to retain a key non-owner employee, a substantial lump-sum bonus tied to life insurance can be the solution. The business owns a policy on the employee and pays premiums, then enters an endorsement split-dollar agreement with the employee.