A 401(k) plan is a defined contribution (DC) plan, typically a profit sharing plan that contains a cash or deferred arrangement as described in section 401(k) of the Internal Revenue Code. A cash or deferred arrangement is simply one that allows plan participants to elect to defer a portion of compensation, their elective deferrals, and have it contributed to the plan on their behalf, typically through payroll withholding.

The employer may contribute to the plan by matching all, or a portion, of the elective deferrals or by making non-elective, or profit sharing, contributions to all eligible participants.

401(k) Plans are Ideal for:

• Employers who are initiating a plan due to employee demand.
• Employers wishing for discretionary contributions.
• Employers wishing for discretionary contributions.

A 403(b) plan (also called a tax-sheltered annuity or TSA plan) is a retirement plan offered by public schools and certain 501(c) (3) tax-exempt organizations. Employees save for retirement by contributing to individual accounts. Employers can also contribute to employees' accounts.

403(b) plans are ideal for:

• Organizations who wish to offer flexibility in contributions
• Organizations who wish to allow their employees to defer some of their salary, but may not wish to make employer contributions

457(b) plans may be maintained by a governmental employer (i.e., a State, a political subdivision of a State, or any agency or instrumentality of a State or political subdivision of a State). Rollovers are permitted to or from governmental section 457(b) plans.

457 Plans are ideal for:

• Governmental plans wishing to offer enhanced benefit packages to employees
• Creating a plan that is unique to the organizations needs

A Money purchase plans is a defined contribution plan that is similar to a profit sharing plan except that the contribution amounts are fixed rather than variable. Thus, employers are required to make a contribution to the plan each year for the plan participants regardless of the company’s profitability for the year.

Money Purchase Plans are ideal for:

• Employers with substantial resources
• Employers with stable income

A Cross Tested plan is a hybrid plan that combines features of both defined benefit and defined contribution plan generally to skew the employer contributions in favor of the older, higher paid employees.  These plans provide the ability to create multiple benefit levels and are flexible in their contributions.

Cross-Tested Plans are Ideal for:

• Employers who are older than some employees.
• Employers desiring larger contributions for themselves and possibly other key employees.
• Employers desiring flexible contributions

A Cash Balance Plan is a type of Defined Benefit Plan. By taking advantage of age and salary differences, a Cash Balance Plan tilts the contributions towards a desired employee or group of employees. Unlike a traditional Defined Benefit Plan however, a Cash Balance Plan provides a "hypothetical" account balance for the participants which accrues interest at a pre-defined government rate.

Cash Balance Plans are Ideal for:

• Employers who are older than some of the staff employees
• Employers desiring larger contributions for certain classes of employees
• Employers with substantial resources
• Employers with stable income

A profit sharing plan is a type of defined contribution plan that is not a pension plan.  The employer’s contribution to a profit sharing plan is not required to be fixed, nor does it need to be tied to profits. While a plan may have a definite contribution formula, many plans use a discretionary formula under which the employer determines each year how much to contribute.

Profit Sharing Plans are ideal for:

• Employers wishing to make discretionary contributions
• Employers with profit fluctuations
• Employers with Limited Resource

An ESOP is a defined contribution plan and may be a stock bonus plan, or a stock bonus plan and money purchase plan. The distinguishing feature of an ESOP is that it must be designed to invest primarily in employer securities. In addition to many of the typical defined contribution plan rules, an ESOP must satisfy certain diversification rules, distribution restrictions, allocation restrictions, and voting rights requirements.

ESOPs are ideal for:

• Closely held profitable companies who wish to provide a market for shares of a departing owner
• Companies who wish to provide a supplemental employee benefit plan
• Companies who may want a means to borrow money in a tax favored manner

Any type of tax-deferred, employer-sponsored retirement plan that falls outside of employee retirement income security act (ERISA) guidelines. Non-qualified plans are designed to meet specialized retirement needs for key executives and other select employees. These plans also are exempt from the discriminatory and top-heavy testing that qualified plans are subject to. 

Non-Qualified Plans are ideal for:

• Companies with a large amount of free-cash flow
• Companies wishing to retain key executives
• Companies who wish to allow additional retirement savings for executives who have “maxed-out” under the ERISA plan.