457(f) vs. Split Dollar Plans

Offering retirement benefit plans using life insurance has long been an important element of an employer’s ability to attract, retain, and reward their key management employees. While the 457(f) Retirement Plan and Collateral Assignment Split-Dollar (CASD) Plan both have the potential to provide meaningful benefits to employees, important tax, financial, and operational differences exist. The following tables will compare the plans and their impact from a participant and company perspective.

Trust-Owned Life Insurance: Managing Fiduciary Risk

“We reject a lax view of fiduciary obligations and insist upon their scrupulous observance. But to say that a man is a fiduciary only begins [the] analysis; it gives direction to further inquiry. To whom is he a fiduciary? What obligations does he owe as a fiduciary? In what respect has he failed to discharge these obligations? And, what are the consequences of his deviation from duty?” – Hon F. Frankfurter, SEC vs. Chenery (1943).