Your Clients Are Losing Executives. Here’s the Conversation That Stops It.
How CPAs, attorneys, and financial advisors can introduce executive benefit solutions to retention-challenged clients.
If you advise privately held companies, you’ve probably heard some version of this: “We lost our VP of Sales to a public company. They offered equity we couldn’t match.”
The instinct is to sympathize. But the better response is to diagnose: your client doesn’t have an equity problem. They have an executive benefit problem. And it’s solvable.
The Problem Your Client Doesn’t Know They Have
Most privately held companies offer their executives the same 401(k) they offer everyone else. For an executive earning $400,000+, the 401(k) will replace approximately 35% of their pre-retirement income. The remaining 65% is the retirement gap — and it’s the financial reality that makes recruiters’ calls worth answering.
Your client thinks the executive left for more money. The executive actually left for more security. There’s a difference — and the solutions are different too.
The Diagnostic Conversation
Step 1 — Quantify the gap: "Your CFO earns $450,000. The 401(k) will produce roughly $140,000 in annual retirement income. Their target is $315,000. That’s a $175,000-per-year gap. Are you addressing it?" Most business owners have never done this math for their executives.
Step 2 — Introduce the concept: "There are tools specifically designed for this — SERPs, split-dollar arrangements, deferred compensation. They’re selective (you choose who participates), they vest over time (creating golden handcuffs), and when funded properly, the company’s net cost approaches zero over the long term."
Step 3 — Bring in the specialist: "This isn’t something I design — it requires insurance structuring, 409A compliance, and COLI funding analysis. But I know someone who does this exclusively for private companies, and they work alongside advisory teams like ours."
How SSG Integrates With Your Team
SSG Financial Group designs COLI-funded executive benefit programs — SERPs, split-dollar, and nonqualified deferred compensation — working alongside the client’s CPA (tax modeling), attorney (plan documentation, 409A compliance), and financial advisor (total compensation strategy). We model the plan economics, design the insurance structure, and project the cost recovery timeline.
If you have clients who are losing executives or competing for talent without a supplemental benefit plan, schedule a 20-minute conversation. We’ll show you how the economics work so you can bring it to your client with confidence.
Partner With SSG Financial Group
We work alongside CPAs, attorneys, and financial advisors as the insurance and financial planning integrator on their clients’ advisory teams. Schedule a 20-minute conversation to discuss how we can support your clients.
Schedule a 20-Minute Conversation
Learn more at www.ssgfingrp.com
About SSG Financial Group
SSG Financial Group provides integrated insurance and financial planning solutions, working alongside advisory teams to serve business owners, ESOP companies, and high-net-worth families. We don’t replace any member of the advisory team — we fill the gap that exists when insurance and financial planning aren’t coordinated with the legal and tax work.
