PLANSPONSOR - November/December 2017 - 54

TOTAL BENEFITS
Owning a Piece of the Firm
A stock plan can boost participants' financial wellness
according to bloggers Loren Rodgers,
executive director of the National Center
for Employee Ownership (NCEO), and
Corey Rosen, senior staff member at the
firm and its former executive director,
both in San Francisco. For example, most
structures will treat stock awards more
as retirement assets, meaning there may
be tax penalties for early withdrawals,
while others allow for more immediate
financial gain.
Employees may buy stock directly,
receive it as a bonus, obtain it through
a profit-sharing plan, or receive stock
options, the two observe. But however
employer stock is accessed and held by a
given group of employees, Rodgers and
Rosen agree, being able to own a stake
in their employer's firm can make hardworking
employees even more enthusiastic-not
to mention more financially
secure.
W
hen one hears " stock plan "
or " equity compensation, " he
may think of the incentive
stock options that have been in vogue
with startups and technology firms.
" Company stock " may evoke thoughts of
employer equity within a 401(k) plan-
and the stock-drop lawsuits that have
proliferated. However, such perceptions
limit the broad role that ownership of
employer stock can play-and the link it
can have to retirement planning.
Employee ownership plans can
be created and delivered in a variety
of ways, depending on the needs of a
given employer/employee population,
54 PLANSPONSOR.com November-December 2017 Art by Mark Wang
Employee Stock
Ownership Plans
NCEO's research shows that by far the
most common form of employee ownership
in the U.S. is delivered through the
standard employee stock ownership plan,
or ESOP. In most cases, employees do not
actually buy shares in an ESOP directly.
Instead, the company " contributes its
own shares to the plan, contributes
cash to buy its own stock, often from an
existing owner, or, most commonly, it has
the plan borrow money to buy stock, with
the company repaying the loan. " Rodgers
and Rosen observe that, generally,
employees vest very gradually in their
account and receive their benefits only
when they leave the company, " although
there may be distributions prior to that in
some limited circumstances. "
Just a very small number of ESOPs
allow for what is called " in-service "
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PLANSPONSOR - November/December 2017

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of PLANSPONSOR - November/December 2017

Seeking Value
2017 DC Survey: Plan Benchmarking
2017 Research Year in Review
Owning a Piece of the Firm
Breaking Up With a Fund
Reporting Requirements
PLANSPONSOR - November/December 2017 - Cover1
PLANSPONSOR - November/December 2017 - Cover2
PLANSPONSOR - November/December 2017 - 1
PLANSPONSOR - November/December 2017 - 2
PLANSPONSOR - November/December 2017 - 3
PLANSPONSOR - November/December 2017 - 4
PLANSPONSOR - November/December 2017 - 5
PLANSPONSOR - November/December 2017 - 6
PLANSPONSOR - November/December 2017 - 7
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PLANSPONSOR - November/December 2017 - 11
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PLANSPONSOR - November/December 2017 - 13
PLANSPONSOR - November/December 2017 - 14
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PLANSPONSOR - November/December 2017 - 17
PLANSPONSOR - November/December 2017 - 18
PLANSPONSOR - November/December 2017 - 19
PLANSPONSOR - November/December 2017 - 20
PLANSPONSOR - November/December 2017 - 21
PLANSPONSOR - November/December 2017 - Seeking Value
PLANSPONSOR - November/December 2017 - 23
PLANSPONSOR - November/December 2017 - 24
PLANSPONSOR - November/December 2017 - 25
PLANSPONSOR - November/December 2017 - 26
PLANSPONSOR - November/December 2017 - 27
PLANSPONSOR - November/December 2017 - 28
PLANSPONSOR - November/December 2017 - 29
PLANSPONSOR - November/December 2017 - 2017 DC Survey: Plan Benchmarking
PLANSPONSOR - November/December 2017 - 31
PLANSPONSOR - November/December 2017 - 32
PLANSPONSOR - November/December 2017 - 33
PLANSPONSOR - November/December 2017 - 34
PLANSPONSOR - November/December 2017 - 35
PLANSPONSOR - November/December 2017 - 36
PLANSPONSOR - November/December 2017 - 37
PLANSPONSOR - November/December 2017 - 38
PLANSPONSOR - November/December 2017 - 39
PLANSPONSOR - November/December 2017 - 40
PLANSPONSOR - November/December 2017 - 41
PLANSPONSOR - November/December 2017 - 42
PLANSPONSOR - November/December 2017 - 43
PLANSPONSOR - November/December 2017 - 44
PLANSPONSOR - November/December 2017 - 45
PLANSPONSOR - November/December 2017 - 2017 Research Year in Review
PLANSPONSOR - November/December 2017 - 47
PLANSPONSOR - November/December 2017 - 48
PLANSPONSOR - November/December 2017 - 49
PLANSPONSOR - November/December 2017 - 50
PLANSPONSOR - November/December 2017 - 51
PLANSPONSOR - November/December 2017 - 52
PLANSPONSOR - November/December 2017 - 53
PLANSPONSOR - November/December 2017 - Owning a Piece of the Firm
PLANSPONSOR - November/December 2017 - 55
PLANSPONSOR - November/December 2017 - 56
PLANSPONSOR - November/December 2017 - 57
PLANSPONSOR - November/December 2017 - Breaking Up With a Fund
PLANSPONSOR - November/December 2017 - 59
PLANSPONSOR - November/December 2017 - Reporting Requirements
PLANSPONSOR - November/December 2017 - 61
PLANSPONSOR - November/December 2017 - 62
PLANSPONSOR - November/December 2017 - 63
PLANSPONSOR - November/December 2017 - 64
PLANSPONSOR - November/December 2017 - Cover3
PLANSPONSOR - November/December 2017 - Cover4
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