Financial Planning as an Employee Benefit for Executives: Options, Evidence and ROI
Financial planning as an employee benefit for executives: which options to offer, what the ROI evidence really shows and how to build a business case.
Financial planning as an employee benefit is worth extending to executives, because their pay brings high-stakes decisions, such as deferral elections, equity, 401(k) limits and state moves, that standard wellness programs rarely address. A practical approach for most employers is to give every eligible employee a private, self-service decision tool and reserve one-on-one planning for the smaller group with the most complex situations.
Financial wellness programs are usually built for employees under financial stress. Your executives have a different problem: complex, often irrevocable choices that are expensive to get wrong and hard to ask HR about. This guide covers why that support matters, how common it is, which options exist, where the line between education and advice falls, and how to build an honest ROI case.
Any plan-specific features you describe in a wellness program are governed by your plan documents, so involve counsel, your recordkeeper and your advisers when you design it.
Why executives need financial wellness support too
High pay does not mean simple finances. In a given enrollment season, an eligible executive may need to decide how much salary and bonus to defer into a nonqualified plan, how to schedule the payout, whether a planned move changes the state tax on it, and how next year's 401(k) limits apply.
Several of those decisions are hard to undo:
- NQDC elections are generally irrevocable for the year. In the 2026 Newport/PLANSPONSOR survey, lack of understanding (46%) and irrevocable election rules (27%) were the most cited barriers to participation. Newport, part of Ascensus, is an NQDC provider.
- 401(k) refunds frustrate executives. The 2024 Newport/PLANSPONSOR survey found 15% of businesses had seen 401(k) contributions returned to executives in the past three years.
- New rules keep arriving. For 2026, employees whose 2025 FICA wages exceeded $150,000 must make 401(k) catch-up contributions as Roth (IRS Notice 2025-67). The IRS is expected to publish 2027 limits in November.
There is also a perception gap. Bank of America's 2026 Workplace Benefits Report, published by a benefits provider, found 71% of employers rate their workforce's financial wellbeing as good or excellent, compared with 55% of employees. For NQDC specifically, PLANADVISER's coverage of the 2026 Newport/PLANSPONSOR survey reported that 82% of sponsors were satisfied with their communication, yet 70% of participants said they still did not understand the plan.
How common executive financial planning benefits are
Executive financial and tax planning is a long-standing perquisite, but it is less common than many assume. FW Cook's 2025 Executive Perquisites Report found that fewer than half of S&P 100 companies provide financial and tax planning services, while personal use of company aircraft rose to 76% and security to 59%. Public companies must disclose executive perquisites in their proxy statements, which invites scrutiny of anything that looks like a personal benefit.
Within NQDC plans, support is thinner still. The 2024 Newport/PLANSPONSOR survey found only 31% of NQDC sponsors offered financial advisory or wellness services to participants. Those that did most often covered coordination with other retirement plans (70%), asset allocation (62%) and retirement distributions (58%). A 2025 survey by Principal, a plan provider, found 59% of employers look to financial professionals for participant education, from a sample Principal calls small and directional.
Private companies face fewer disclosure pressures, but they have their own constraint: budgets that rarely stretch to a personal planner for every eligible employee.
Options for executive financial wellness
Most programs combine several of the options below. The right mix depends on how many people you need to reach and how deep the help needs to go.
| Option | Who it reaches | How cost scales | Depth | Privacy | Education vs. advice |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| One-on-one financial and tax planning | A few top executives | Per person, usually the highest cost | Deepest, individualized | Private to the planner | Advice, from a firm you select |
| Group workshops and webinars | Everyone eligible who attends | Per session | General | Group setting | Education |
| Recordkeeper enrollment materials | Every participant | Usually included | Plan mechanics | Varies | Education |
| Private self-service decision tool | Every eligible employee | Per license | Personal numbers, self-directed | Private to the employee | Education, if well designed |
| Tax preparation or a planning stipend | Those who use it | Per person | Varies | Private | Depends on provider |
The layers complement each other. A planner can review the scenarios an executive has already modeled, and a tool reaches the many eligible employees a planner budget never covers.
Drawing the line between education and advice
Top-hat NQDC plans are exempt from ERISA's fiduciary rules (29 U.S.C. §1101). Even so, many sponsors borrow DOL Interpretive Bulletin 96-1 as a framework for keeping their materials on the education side. IB 96-1 was written for participant-directed individual account plans such as 401(k)s, so it does not directly govern a top-hat plan, but it describes a widely understood line.
Under IB 96-1, plan information, general financial information, asset allocation models and interactive materials are not investment advice, if they meet certain conditions. Interactive tools, for example, should rest on generally accepted theories, let users specify every material assumption, produce results that follow objectively from the user's inputs, and prompt users to consider their other assets and income. IB 96-1 also treats selecting a third-party educator or adviser as a plan management decision held to prudence standards. The DOL's 2024 rule defining investment-advice fiduciaries was vacated by the courts, and EBSA published notice of that in March 2026 (91 FR 13503).
Review your approach with counsel. The education vs. advice guide covers the framework in more depth.
The ROI case: evidence and a framework
What the evidence says
Independent, rigorous ROI studies for executive financial wellness are scarce. The most-cited recent figure is from Bank of America's 2026 report: 9 in 10 employers that offer financial wellness programs report measurable returns. That is employer self-reporting in a survey published by a benefits provider, and it covers all employees, not executives.
Retention evidence is similarly directional. Principal's 2025 survey found 76% of employers cite retention as a top reason for offering an NQDC plan and 53% of employees say the plan matters when deciding whether to stay. NFP's 2025 executive benefits report, from a benefits provider that surveyed its own partners, found 85% of decision makers say they cannot afford to lose top talent. ROI multipliers in vendor marketing often lack a published method, so ask for one before you rely on a number.
A framework for your own business case
Rather than borrow someone else's multiplier, compare what the program costs with what it protects or saves:
- Retention of key people. The NQDC plan is a retention tool only if executives value it, and they value what they understand.
- Better use of a benefit you already pay for. The 2024 Newport/PLANSPONSOR survey found 94% of sponsors outsource NQDC administration. That fee is spent whether or not people participate.
- Fewer one-off questions. Enrollment season brings individual "should I defer?" questions that HR cannot answer without straying into advice.
- Fewer 401(k) refund surprises. Executives who see the limits ahead of time can plan around them.
- Appreciation of the benefit. A total rewards package is worth what employees think it is worth.
Illustrative arithmetic
The figures below are assumptions for illustration only, not data or market quotes. Replace them with your own.
| Assumption | Illustrative value |
|---|---|
| Eligible employees | 150 |
| Executives receiving one-on-one planning | 15 |
| Assumed planning cost per executive per year | $5,000 |
| Assumed cost to replace one senior leader (search, ramp-up, lost productivity) | $300,000 |
| Assumed HR hours spent on one-off enrollment questions | 60 hours at a loaded $100 an hour |
On these assumptions, one-on-one planning for 15 executives costs $75,000 a year and reaches 10% of the eligible group. A self-service tool for all 150 would cost whatever your license quote is. If the combined program helped retain one senior leader every four years, it would protect an average of $75,000 a year against that assumed replacement cost, before counting the $6,000 of assumed HR time. The useful output is the break-even, not a promised return: how much retention or time savings the program would need to pay for itself.
What you can measure without seeing private data
You do not need anyone's personal financial data to judge whether the program is working. Useful measures you can track through your own systems and your recordkeeper's standard reports:
- Participation and deferral rates across the eligible group, year over year.
- Enrollment-window question volume reaching HR or benefits staff.
- 401(k) refunds to executives after nondiscrimination testing.
- Retention of the eligible population compared with prior years.
- Satisfaction, through a short pulse survey after enrollment.
NQDC Calculator is built so that it does not give you individual data. When you license it for your eligible employees, each employee signs in with a work email and models their own election privately, with your plan's terms configured with you as starting values. The sponsor never sees individual inputs, results or elections, and the tool never recommends an election. It fits as the scalable layer beneath one-on-one counseling, as described in benefits decision support tools for deferred compensation. For more on turning understanding into enrollment, see how to increase NQDC plan participation and the executive retention guide.
Frequently asked questions
Do executives need financial wellness support?
Often, yes, though for different reasons than other employees. Executives face complex, often irrevocable decisions about deferrals, equity, payout schedules and 401(k) limits. In the 2026 Newport/PLANSPONSOR survey, lack of understanding was the most cited barrier to NQDC participation.
How common is executive financial planning as a perk?
Less common than many assume. FW Cook's 2025 report found fewer than half of S&P 100 companies provide financial and tax planning services. Among NQDC sponsors, the 2024 Newport/PLANSPONSOR survey found only 31% offered financial advisory or wellness services to participants.
What does the evidence say about financial wellness ROI?
Bank of America's 2026 report found 9 in 10 employers with financial wellness programs report measurable returns, but that is self-reported and published by a benefits provider. Rigorous independent studies are scarce, and many multipliers in vendor marketing lack a published method. Build your own break-even case instead.
What can a sponsor measure without seeing private data?
Participation and deferral rates from your recordkeeper, the volume of enrollment questions reaching HR, 401(k) refunds to executives, retention of the eligible group and satisfaction from a pulse survey. None of these requires access to anyone's personal financial data.
Where does a self-service deferral calculator fit next to one-on-one counseling?
A private calculator reaches every eligible employee at a cost that scales with a license rather than per person, and it helps people arrive at counseling with their scenarios already modeled. One-on-one planning adds individualized advice for the few with the most complex situations. Most programs benefit from both layers.