Executive Benefits
Executive Benefits
Executive Benefits
Supplement standard group benefits with coverage and benefit arrangements for key executives and highly compensated employees.
Executive Benefits
Supplement standard group benefits with coverage and benefit arrangements for key executives and highly compensated employees.
Executive Benefits
Supplement standard group benefits with coverage and benefit arrangements for key executives and highly compensated employees.
Benefits for Key Executives
Traditional employee benefit programs do not always provide the same level of protection for executives and other highly compensated employees. Coverage limits, compensation levels, and individual financial circumstances can create gaps that may warrant additional planning.
Global Advisers helps businesses evaluate executive benefit arrangements that complement the organization’s broader employee benefits program while addressing the needs of key members of the leadership team.
Key People Can Have
Different Benefit Needs.
Executive benefits can supplement broad employee programs with additional protection, retirement opportunities, and retention strategies for executives and other key employees.
Extend the Benefits Strategy to Key People.
Broad employee benefit programs can provide an important foundation, but compensation levels, benefit limits, retirement needs, and retention priorities can create different considerations for executives and other highly compensated employees.
Establish Executive Benefits
We help businesses evaluate executive life and disability coverage, retirement and deferred compensation strategies, retention objectives, available providers, and coordination with the broader benefits program.
Where Can Standard Benefits Fall Short?
A broad group program may not provide the same relative level of protection or retirement opportunity for employees with significantly higher compensation. Executive benefits can address selected gaps.
Provides a broad foundation of protection.
Standard benefit amounts may represent a smaller portion of financial need.
Additional protection can supplement the broad group benefit.
Supplement the Foundation.
Supplemental executive life insurance can provide additional protection beyond the basic group benefit. Coverage structure, benefit amount, underwriting, employer contribution, and tax treatment should be evaluated for the specific arrangement.
What Can Employers Evaluate?
Additional life insurance can supplement the employer's standard group benefit for selected executives or key employees.
Additional disability protection can address situations where group-plan maximums result in a lower percentage of income replacement for highly compensated employees.
An NQDC arrangement can allow selected employees to defer compensation beyond qualified-plan contribution limits, subject to applicable plan, tax, and legal requirements.
A SERP or other supplemental retirement arrangement can provide additional retirement benefits for selected executives.
Employers can evaluate whether and how the organization contributes toward selected executive benefit arrangements.
Benefit vesting, contribution schedules, deferred compensation, and other arrangements may be structured around longer-term retention objectives where appropriate.
Employers can identify which executives or key employees are eligible under a particular arrangement, subject to applicable requirements.
Executive benefits can lose perceived value when participants do not understand the benefit, its purpose, or how it works.
Executive benefits can be considered alongside compensation, investments, taxes, retirement, insurance, and other personal financial decisions.
Benefit levels, compensation, executive roles, business priorities, carrier arrangements, and regulatory requirements can change over time.
Executive Benefits Are Already Widely Used.
Current employer research shows that supplemental benefits for executives are not limited to a small number of organizations.
offer at least one employer-paid benefit to CEOs and other key executives.
Mercer notes that broad core group benefits may not fully address the needs of executives and other highly compensated employees.
say executive benefits are important for long-term retention.
The finding comes from NFP's 2025 U.S. Executive Compensation and Benefits Trend Report.
say their organization cannot afford to lose top talent.
Executive retention can therefore carry consequences beyond the individual benefit itself.
A Benefit Has Less Value If the Executive Does Not Understand It.
Executive benefit arrangements can be more complex than broad employee programs. Current research identifies a significant communication gap.
fully understand their executive benefits.
Fewer than one in three executives were reported to fully understand the benefits available to them.
among executives who understand their benefits.
NFP reported that executives who understand their benefits are 2.3 times more likely to remain committed to their company.
had meetings with financial advisers regarding their benefits.
Benefit education and individual guidance can help participants understand how executive arrangements fit their finances.
Why Do Employers Offer NQDC Plans?
NFP's 2025 research identified retention, competitiveness, and retirement preparation as leading reasons employers use nonqualified deferred compensation arrangements.
Establishing a Plan Is Not the End of the Work.
Current NQDC research shows that even established executive programs can suffer from low participation and poor understanding.
report participant utilization below 25%.
Low participation can indicate that an existing benefit is not being understood or used by eligible executives as intended.
cite lack of understanding as a participation barrier.
Communication, education, plan structure, and participant support can therefore be important parts of an executive-benefit review.
Leadership Retention Deserves Attention.
SHRM reported in 2025 that 56% of C-suite executives, excluding CHROs, were likely or extremely likely to leave their current role within the next two years. Executive benefits cannot eliminate turnover risk, but they can be one component of a broader compensation and retention strategy.
Supplemental Executive Coverage
Depending on the organization and the individuals involved, executive benefits may include:
- Supplemental life insurance beyond the limits provided through the group plan
- Individual or supplemental disability insurance to provide additional income protection
- Long-term care insurance, where appropriate and available
- Enhanced health and supplemental benefits
- Executive retirement and benefit arrangements intended to supplement qualified retirement plans
- Other insurance-based strategies appropriate to the organization and executive
Plan structure, eligibility, funding, tax treatment, and regulatory requirements can vary significantly. Certain arrangements require coordination with the employer’s legal, tax, accounting, or other professional advisers.
Supporting Recruitment, Retention, and Protection
Executive benefits can help an organization provide a more competitive compensation and benefits package while addressing protection needs that may not be fully met through standard group plans.
Global Advisers works with employers to evaluate available insurance and benefit options, consider how they fit within the organization’s broader compensation strategy, and coordinate the appropriate resources when specialized planning is required.
Discuss Executive Benefit Options
Global Advisers can help your organization evaluate supplemental insurance and executive benefit options appropriate for key employees and members of your leadership team.
Insurance products and services are separate from investment advisory services. Insurance coverage, eligibility, premiums, benefits, underwriting requirements, tax treatment, limitations, exclusions, and availability vary by insurer, arrangement, individual, and state. Global Advisers and/or its licensed insurance professionals may receive commissions or other compensation from insurance carriers in connection with insurance products or placements. Clients are not required to purchase insurance products through Global Advisers as a condition of receiving investment advisory services. Executive benefit arrangements may involve legal, tax, accounting, ERISA, or other regulatory considerations. Global Advisers does not provide legal or tax advice, and employers should consult appropriate professional advisers regarding their specific circumstances.
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From retirement plans to nonqualified and pension plans, our benefit offerings help attract and retain top talent that drives organizations forward. Learn how our retirement solutions can benefit your workforce.
