Small business owners can afford to offer their employees—and themselves—wealth-preserving retirement plans. This comprehensive guide shows how.

Current law and changes in the skilled labor marketplace have made qualified retirement plans an increasingly affordable employee benefit—and a valuable personnel-management tool.

Written by professionals for professionals, this practical, authoritative volume shows how to …

• Take advantage of the business and tax savings offered by qualified plan sponsorship
• Plan for a secure financial future for owners and senior executives
• Understand critical tax planning issues that are key to making a plan work
• Comply with regulatory requirements for plan design and administration
• Plus model forms and documents you can use as-is or adapt as needed

Our expert team addresses all the tough questions clients ask:

• Why does a retirement plan make sense for a smaller business? How small is “big enough” for a business to consider having a retirement plan?
• What are the differences between the various types of plans and which type will benefit the business owner most?
• What information has to be provided to get a plan approved by the IRS, what must be disclosed to employees, and what are the legal and accounting issues?
• What are the pros and cons of the various types of plans available?
• How can a retirement program be designed to provide life income that goes beyond a participant’s personal life expectancy?
• When termination of employment occurs what are the alternatives available to roll over what has been accumulated to another form of tax-sheltered investment?
• Can a plan be structured to allow an employee to receive or roll over
  distributions earlier than 65? after 65? even without termination?
• Can distributions be made in more than one form and at more than one time?
• What range of investment alternatives should be offered to employees? How should these options be explained and communicated?
• How can an employer and trustee be insulated from liability for poor
  investment results?
• What requirements for nondiscrimination must be met by the employer and how is an appropriate formula, within the employer’s budget, best determined?

About the Editors

Mark Weisberg, J.D., is a partner in the Chicago law firm of Winston & Strawn, in the employee benefits and executive compensation practice group.  He represents employers in the design, establishment, and administration of retirement benefit, welfare benefit, and deferred and equity-based compensation plans.  In 2005, Mr. Weisberg was named one of the leading employee benefits and executive compensation lawyers in the United States by Chambers USA: America’s Leading Business Lawyers; he also was honored in the peer rankings-based 2007 and 2008 editions of The Best Lawyers in America.  Mr. Weisberg is a frequent speaker and writer on employee benefits and executive compensation topics whose articles have appeared in Benefits Law Journal, Venture Economics Technology Supplement, and Outside Counsel.

Donald R. Levy, J.D., M.B.A., who assisted in the concept development and editing, is the author of the original IRA Answer Book, now going into its twelfth edition, and has co-authored and/or edited books on estate planning, executive compensation, managed care, 403(b) plans, HIPAA, cash balance, planning for the affluent, insurance topics, annuities, and employment severance.