Probably the second most expensive employee benefit after medical insurance offered by Vermont employers is a retirement plan; however, it doesn't have to be a major burden. Depending on the size of your business, several relatively inexpensive retirement options are available and easy to implement.

Some of the simplified retirement vehicles that small employers in Vermont can establish for their eligible employees, plans to which an employer is not required to make contributions, include:

• Traditional and Roth IRA
• Small Business Retirement Plan
• Education Savings Account
• SEP-IRA (Simplified Employee Pension)
• Profit Sharing Plan
• Super Simplified 401(k) Plan

Examples of retirement plans that require more documentation and thus tend to be offered by more established Vermont companies include:

• 401(k) Plan
• 403(b) Plus Plan
• Money Purchase Plan
• Simple 401(k) Plan

The alphabet soup of plan choices can make the selection of the right retirement plan for your company or non-profit organization a daunting task. At Benefit Design & Strategies we remove the complexity and help you to narrow the options to those that are most appropriate for your business based on the criteria you establish during our initial interview and subsequent conversations.

Each of these types of plans have their own set of advantages and disadvantages (to the employer and the employee), which should be taken into consideration as we examine each plan. Benefit Design & Strategies, together with its partners in retirement planning, will be there to implement the plan, educate your employees and guide you through the enrollment process.

We are also able to evaluate your existing retirement plan to determine if it is still meeting your needs and expectations. If appropriate we can suggest alternative investments or administrators. Let Benefit Design & Strategies work with you to protect your future and that or your employees.