CCP Develops Executive Compensation Benefit Plan

Corporate Compensation Plans has introduced an executive compensation benefit program to protect highly paid employees' income and wealth accumulation plans.

“Most large companies have designed highly effective cash, incentive compensation, and asset accumulation plans for their key employees,” said Philip Davis, CCP’s President. “However, in most cases, they have not provided the programs to protect the wealth being created by these plans.”

To solve this problem, Danbury, Connecticut-based CCP says it has created a Wealth Preservation Program with four components:

Never miss a story — sign up for PLANADVISER newsletters to keep up on the latest retirement plan adviser news.

  • a Tax Conversion Component that will convert taxable nonqualified deferred compensation survivorship benefits into income tax-free and estate tax-exempt benefits with the potential to save millions of dollars at little or no cost to either the company or the executive.
  • a Disability Security Component that will continue employees’ contributions to their nonqualified deferred compensation plan accounts when they become disabled so their assets will grow just as if they were working. The component can be funded from corporate contributions or from increases in executives’ deferrals.
  • a Disability Equalization Component that extends the basic group long-term disability insurance coverage up to $10,000,000 of base, bonus and incentive compensation to protect highly paid employees from the catastrophic losses of income they would suffer if they become disabled — losses than can run into the tens of millions of dollars.
  • a  Tax Free Bonus Component that pays selected employees bonuses to purchase extended health care insurance. The purpose of the insurance is to protect their wealth against the millions of dollars of costs that can result from serious strokes or injuries or from illnesses such as cancer, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.

According to CCP, the tax free bonus component works as follows:

  • The bonus payments are deductible to the company and may be eligible for substantial tax credits.
  • The bonus payments are not taxable to the employees.
  • The insurance benefits are income tax free and can be made estate tax exempt.

If the policies are never used, the total bonus payments will be refunded to the employees' beneficiaries when they die. In essence, this provides key employees with a deferred compensation death benefit funded with tax-deductible corporate dollars at no cost to themselves and without 409A requirements.

"Our new Program is necessary to protect executives' incomes and assets against the severe economic losses that can be caused by disability, death, or a severe injury or illness," said Tasha Mayberry, CCP's VP of Marketing. "In addition, we have built the systems that are required to communicate, enroll and administer the programs and, as a result, little work or effort is required by the company's Human Resource Department."

For nearly 40 years Corporate Compensation Plans has been providing tax-advantaged benefit programs to many of the largest companies and law firms in the country. CCP specializes in executive compensation programs that help protect income and preserve wealth through no-cost solutions to the employer. Their goal is to enhance the financial security of employees and to help companies attract and retain the top talent needed to compete in today's global economy.

Janus Launches Capital Protection Fund

Janus has launched what it says is the first U.S.-based capital protection mutual fund to offer daily liquidity with no set maturity date.   

Janus Protected Series – Growth aims to “improve the investor experience by balancing potential capital appreciation with a measure of downside protection.” The fund’s capital protection will be provided by BNP Paribas, one of the world’s largest banks with over $2.67 trillion in assets and a market capitalization of $93 billion. 

The fund, which was launched on May 4, 2011, is managed by Janus portfolio manager Jonathan Coleman. Coleman, who also serves as Co-Chief Investment Officer, Equities, of Janus Capital Management, believes the most compelling feature of this product is the degree of downside certainty that it will provide.  “Financial advisors have told us that their clients want to reinvest in the equity markets, but have concerns about significant equity market downturns,” said Coleman. “We believe this strategy, with its expected ability to protect on the downside, may be a solution for these investors to meet their financial goals.”  

Want the latest retirement plan adviser news and insights? Sign up for PLANADVISER newsletters.

According to the announcement, Janus Protected Series – Growth aims to balance capital appreciation and capital protection by actively allocating its assets between domestic large cap equities, cash and cash equivalents, U.S. Treasuries or other instruments that have the potential to reduce risk such as short index futures, assisted by BNP Paribas’ risk allocation methodology. Janus notes that the fund is designed to provide investors with a protected NAV of no less than 80% of the highest NAV ever achieved by each individual share class of the fund, reduced for dividends, distributions, extraordinary items and extraordinary expenses. If the NAV per share for any share class is less than the protected NAV, the fund would liquidate. 

When Janus Protected Series – Growth’s NAV is above its protected NAV, the fund’s equity exposure could be up to 100%. In the event that the fund’s NAV approaches its protected NAV, the equity exposure could be as low as 0%. As a result, the fund may lag in a rising market due to the re-allocation process, particularly following a period of market decline. The fund may also lag other similarly managed growth funds that do not pay a capital protection fee, according to the announcement. 

“We are very excited to partner with Janus to deliver to investors for the first time an open-ended product that combines Janus' capabilities in active management with our long-standing experience in sound and adaptive risk-management principles to preserve capital,” said Edward Speal, BNP Paribas’ Head of Global Equities and Commodity Derivatives for the Americas. “As a result, we are comfortable providing the fund with protection.”  

“BNP Paribas has been providing capital protection for European-based investment strategies for over 15 years,” said Coleman. “We believe this makes them the perfect partner for this innovative strategy.”  

The press release cautions that there is no guarantee that the investment techniques used by the fund’s portfolio manager and the risk allocation methodology employed by the capital protection provider will produce the desired results.  

«

 

You’re viewing the first of three free articles.

 Subscribe to a free PW Newsletter! 

…subscribing gets you free access to PW’s online content!

If you’re a subscriber, please login.

Close