A Cash Balance Plan That Helps You Keep Your Key People.
"Beyond the $72,000 annual limit on total 401(k) additions: a cash balance plan can let you defer $300,000+ of income a year, sized by your census and plan testing."
Choose Your Path
Three ways in. Pick the one that sounds like your business.
Business Owners with Employees
For owners with employees, from a handful to fifty-plus. A benefit your team earns by staying, designed and tested on your census, with owners and key people funded first.
Keep Your Key PeopleSolopreneur
Just you? A solo cash balance plan can let you defer $300k+ of income a year, subject to plan testing, with you as the plan sponsor.
See the Solo PlanPension Rescue
Already have an overfunded plan, or a frozen one? Our actuaries review what it can be restructured into, and what they look at first.
Review My PlanThe Four Questions Before a First Plan
What a business with employees needs to know before it sponsors a retirement plan, in the order owners ask.
What will it cost to fund my employees?
Usually less than owners expect. An actuary weights the design to owners and key people, staff earn a contribution that vests over time, and eligible contributions are generally deductible, subject to plan rules and limits.
How staff funding worksWho does the administration, and what do I have to do?
Very little. Our in-house actuarial desk designs the plan and handles the annual valuation, testing, compliance and administration. You approve the design and keep running payroll.
What we handleHow flexible is it if cash flow changes from year to year?
It flexes. Each year's valuation sets a minimum and a maximum contribution: strong years fund near the top, a weak one can drop toward the minimum. If the business changes durably, the plan can be amended or frozen.
How the funding range worksIs a cash balance or life-insurance-in-plan design right for a business like mine?
It fits a consistently profitable business whose owners are older than most of the staff and want a benefit that rewards the people who stay. If it does not fit, we say so.
See who it fits
Bought Inside the Plan
Funded From Pre-Tax Profit
Life Insurance,
Bought Inside the Plan.
Funded With Pre-Tax Plan Dollars
A qualified plan can own permanent life insurance on its participants. The business contributes and deducts; the plan buys the policy. Protection for your family and the business, paid for with money that would otherwise have been taxed first.
Options After a Decline
We are independent, not captive. A case one carrier turns down can be re-shopped to carriers with different underwriting, including simplified-issue and guaranteed-issue designs. Approval is never guaranteed, but one “no” is not the final answer.
Income-Tax-Free Transfer, Within Limits
Move corporate profit into a death benefit whose pure insurance amount passes to your heirs income-tax-free, sidestepping the income tax and RMDs they would otherwise owe on inherited retirement assets. The policy's cash value is still taxed to them as a plan distribution, and proceeds count toward your estate.
In-House Desk
MBA, MS Taxation
Actuarial Math with a Fiduciary Soul.
"We don't just provide software; we provide hands-on expertise. Every strategy we design is reviewed by our in-house actuarial desk, so the plan is mathematically sound and designed to withstand IRS scrutiny."
Annual actuarial valuation
IRS Sec. 412(e)3 Specialists
Alexander Tecle
President & Founder — MBA, M.S. Taxation
Charles Zimmerer
Wealth Advisor — J.D., CPA · Tax, Accounting & Legal
The Strategic Difference
Most providers offer "retail" plans. We architect institutional-grade wealth fortresses.
In-House Actuarial Desk
Direct access to our actuaries for rapid plan design and 72-hour rescue response.
Pension Rescue (Whole Life)
Proprietary actuarial defunding math to restore vanished tax deductions.
Joint Defense Protocol
IRS audit representation included for every plan we design and administer.
ERISA Asset Fortress
Highest level of federal creditor protection available in the US legal system.
* Comparison based on internal actuarial audit of top 5 national TPA firms.
Explore Our Guides
In-depth, expert-reviewed guides on the strategies we build.
Cash Balance Plans for Business Owners
The fastest way for profitable owners and self-employed professionals to make large, tax-deductible retirement contributions — often well beyond what a 401(k) allows.
Read the guide Retirement Plan GuideRetirement Plans for the Self-Employed
Solo 401(k), SEP-IRA, profit sharing, and beyond — how to choose the plan that lets you save (and defer) the most each year.
Read the guide Tax Strategy GuideSmall Business Tax Strategies
A running playbook of tax-saving moves for business owners, S-corps, and 1099 / self-employed professionals — from everyday deductions to entity-specific strategies and retirement contributions.
Read the guide Physician GuideLocum & 1099 Physician Tax Strategies
Independent and locum physicians have tax and retirement opportunities W-2 doctors don't. Here's how to keep more of what you earn.
Read the guide Advanced Strategy GuideLife Insurance & Advanced Wealth Strategies
Once you've maxed conventional retirement plans, these tools extend tax-advantaged savings and protect your legacy.
Read the guide Compliance ReferenceQualified Plan Rules & ERISA Compliance
The rules that keep a retirement plan qualified — fiduciary duties, vesting, controlled groups, and more, in plain English.
Read the guideAre You a CPA or Accountant?
Share in your clients' success. Introduce them to our In-House Actuarial Desk and we handle plan design, compliance, administration, and fiduciary advisory.
Explore the Referral Program