February 19, 2025 • 19 mins
Want to offer better employee benefits but think your small business can't afford it? Think again!
This episode breaks down creative ways to provide meaningful benefits that can help you attract and retain top talent - without breaking the bank. We'll show you how small businesses can actually have an advantage over big corporations when it comes to flexible benefits.
Key Quote: "Building a strong benefits package isn't about matching big corporations dollar for dollar - it's about creating flexible solutions that meet your team's real needs."
What You'll Learn:
- Why traditional retirement plans might not be the best fit for your team
- How to use Section 162 Bonus Plans to create flexible benefits
- Creative ways to structure benefits that serve both current and future needs
- Real examples of small businesses winning the talent war with smart benefit strategies
Want to dive deeper into implementing these strategies? Get our free Bonus Plan Details and Implementation Guide at wealthwisdomfp.com/community. Join a community of business owners who are revolutionizing how small businesses approach benefits.
Don't let limited resources stop you from building a competitive benefits package. Listen now to discover how to create benefits that actually work better for your team than traditional corporate offerings!
00:00 Introduction to Smart Employee Benefits
00:45 Welcome to Wealth Wisdom Financial Podcast
01:26 The Story of Jen: Struggling with Employee Retention
02:08 The Importance of Appreciation in Retention
03:42 Three Core Principles for Retaining Top Talent
03:58 Professional Development Opportunities
06:27 Building Meaningful Connections at Work
08:40 Showing Value to Your Team
10:34 Financial Recognition and Bonuses
13:16 Introducing the Section 162 Bonus Plan
16:39 Jen's Success Story and Final Thoughts
18:11 Join the Wealth Wisdom Financial Community
18:46 Conclusion and Call to Action
Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/R5_57qf7OlM
SmallBusiness #EmployeeBenefits #BusinessGrowth #TeamRetention
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Think keeping great employees means
spending a fortune on benefits?
Think again. Today we're diving into
smart employee benefits that work for
small businesses. Plus, we'll explore a
little known benefit option that could
give you a competitive edge without
breaking the bank. Whether you're looking
(00:21):
to keep your star performers or build
long-term loyalty across your team, this
episode is packed with practical
solutions you can implement right away.
In a world where chaos seems to reign
supreme, where uncertainty lurks around
every corner and financial markets are
(00:42):
now more unpredictable than ever. There's
one place you can turn to to find clarity
and control. Welcome to the Wealth Wisdom
Financial Podcast. Hey, I'm Brandon.
And I'm Amanda. Join us as we dive deep
in the world of personal and business
finance to assist you in navigating
through the chaos and building the
(01:03):
financial future you deserve. We believe
when conventional financial thinking
doesn't get you where you want to go, you
need wealth wisdom. So if you're ready to
take control of your financial destiny.
Tune in to the Wealth Wisdom Financial
Podcast because in a chaotic world,
your money shouldn't be. Subscribe
now and never miss an episode.
(01:26):
So let me tell you about Jen, a local
bakery owner who was struggling to keep
her best employees. She was losing them
to the bigger companies with deeper
pockets, and it was costing her more than
just money. It was affecting her
business's reputation and customer
relationships. But here's the thing, she
discovered that retention isn't
(01:47):
just about matching big company salaries
or benefits, it's about creating an
environment where people want to stay
and grow. Sounds similar to you. I
mean, you could have said Jen or Amanda.
I don't own a bakery. I
mean, we did own a coffee shop, so maybe
it's, I don't know, similar. So here's a
surprising stat. 79% of
(02:09):
people who quit their jobs
cite lack of appreciation as a
key reason. Not money,
not benefits, appreciation.
This tells us something crucial about
retention. It's not always about throwing
money at the problem. It's about
(02:30):
just saying,Thanks for a great job. Yeah,
and we just went through something that
people were calling the the great
resignation where lots of people quit
their jobs. And this stat kind of comes
from that time. They were quitting and
moving because they felt a lack of
appreciation. And we all kind of know the
hidden costs of turnover from the
(02:50):
business owner's perspective. Direct
costs like recruiting and training,
indirect costs like lost productivity and
customer relationships. The impact on
team morale and the company culture and
the ripple effect that it can have on
your business's reputation throughout the
community. Why are people leaving?Oh,
another person left. There must be
something fishy going on at that
(03:10):
business, right?Right But we
think that employee retention is going to
cost more than the
cost of turnover, so we don't do anything
about it. Yeah, I mean, it's crazy.
Uh, our bold opinion is this. If you want
a company that can grow and scale,
you need to retain top talent.
(03:33):
Again, if you want to have a
business that grows and scales, you need
to keep top talent.
And so we're gonna talk about three
core principles that help keep top
talent that are all benefits-based.
And they might surprise you. Yep. Yeah.
(03:53):
So you ready for this?Three core benefits
and employee benefit principles. The
first one is growth,
professional development opportunities.
That is a benefit of working at a
place is that there can be opportunities
for professional development. Not all
companies offer that. That is a benefit
that you can offer. a good understanding
(04:15):
of your future path, you know the
employee, their future path in the
company, you know their career path
within it, the company's future, how it
all kind of works together, that's
professional development. That is a
benefit. That also gives opportunities
for cross-training, learning other parts
of the business to know better how one's
role fits into that bigger picture.
(04:35):
That's a benefit to know like the bigger
picture, how things work together, be
able to have new knowledge in
different areas. And then it can go
beyond that to actually paid skills
development courses or licensing
programs. If you paid for that person's
license to do something, they're way more
likely to stick with you because they're
(04:56):
like, this person cares about me. Even if
I took that license and went somewhere
else, this was a professional development
opportunity that I received from here.
Anything else you'd say about growth and
professional development?Well, are we
going to talk about why business owners
maybe say, well, I don't want to do that
because. they say, well, all
right, they're gonna learn so
(05:18):
much that they're gonna leave me anyway.
Talk about it. Um, a lot of times I hear,
I hear people say, well, if I keep
do the, if I do this, then they're gonna
find a better job. They're gonna do this
or that. And so for me, I think, well, I
wanna keep investing in them as a
person and whether they leave or
(05:39):
not,I want them to be better because they
came as part of our community anyway, or
part of our business, right?And so I want
them to develop as a person, as an
individual, having a growth mindset. I
think that will help grow. Our
business, because not only am I
in a growth mindset, but I create a
(06:00):
culture of a growth mindset. So we want
to have that for not just us, but our
team where they want to grow and develop
and we give them the resources to do
that. Yeah. And we kind of talked about
this in our last episode that what
employee wouldn't want to work for a
growing business and a growing business
needs growing employees that are
developing professionally. And so that's
(06:22):
a great benefit to offer. Ready for
number two?Yeah, number two. Let's go for
it. Number two is connection. Developing
meaningful relationships at work. Now,
in an increasingly isolated
world, coworkers might be
one or the strongest or
the only social connection in
(06:44):
your employee's life. So building that
social cohesion is more important now
than ever. And this could have, you know,
some of the flexibility to work from
home. That's good. A lot of places are
returning to all in person and they're
going to have a bunch of people quit
because of doing that. But even if you're
totally remote, we found having at least
one day in person in office can make that
(07:07):
connection to the team way more powerful.
And it's not just about like in person or
versus virtual though, it's also
about your team having the time and space
to. be social, to do
icebreakers, to catch up on what happened
this weekend, you know, all those kind of
things. I think that water cooler stuff
is important. As much as we say, well,
(07:28):
no, we we need to be all about what we're
accomplishing, right?Having that water
cooler talk, talk talking,
let me go back. Having that water cooler
conversation does help us
to do bigger things because we actually
know about each other. We know both our
strengths and weaknesses. Yeah. And
(07:51):
if you have a profitable business, which
we hope you do, there's going to be time
for chit chat and team building. If your
team is always stressed and constantly
talking about work and feeling like
drive, drive, drive, focus, focus, focus,
you probably need to reevaluate your
profitability. The other thing in
coming together in relationships is just,
this has happened today. One of our staff
(08:13):
loves to bake, and so guess what happens?
Amanda can't eat half of the stuff.
that is out in the world. Thanks for
telling everybody. Yeah, you know, it's
the way it is. And so she loves
to bake. And so guess what?We get the
benefit of that becauseUm,
well, she bakes too much and she loves
(08:34):
that and she gives it to the team. Yeah.
On Mondays because of a level 10. Yeah.
Okay. Next, third, uh, principle, third
idea is value, showing your team
you value them. And this can be both
financial and non-financial. We're
going to come back after the break to
explore one of our favorite financial
(08:54):
benefits that you can do without breaking
the bank, because that's what this
episode's all about. But before the
break, let's talk about these
non-financialSo one
easy non-financial benefit
source of recognition is to say thank you
or good job. And I learned this from
somebody who's been a manager for
decades, where he was taught that you
(09:16):
want to say appreciation,
recognition at least three times
more than you give negative feedback. And
he called it making deposits in the bank.
If you want to take a withdrawal from the
bank in terms of negative feedback or
correction, you need to make deposits in
the bank first in order to be able to
take that withdrawal. You might share to
(09:37):
that person, you know, think. Thank you.
Good job. You might also share about
their successes or job well done with the
rest of the team, right?Public
recognition goes really far, and when
it's appropriate, not a breach of trust
or confidentiality. Also brag about your
people to other people outside the
company. your mentors, their family,
some you know key vendors that you use,
(09:59):
all those kinds of things, that's going
to get around and they're they're going
to hear back about it. Anything you'd say
about non-financial before we switch to
financial?Even our our son, he knows
all of the people here that work for us
and wants to meet them all.
And I think that is as well as
having a, not just caring
(10:21):
for them,But of their family,
of who they are taking care of,
knowing the kids names
and all of those things is very valuable.
Yeah, OK, now before we have the break
and dig into our favorite financial
benefit. I'm going to give you an easy
financial recognition program that you
(10:43):
might use, and it's just bonuses. You can
do team bonuses, individual bonuses, lots
of options. We love bonuses that are only
paid when certain financial goals are
met, so they're a share of the
profitability rather than an expense when
the company may or may not have the funds
to pay that bonus. Additionally, when
bonuses are paid for hitting goals, it
has that growth mindset. gives you know
(11:05):
the employees in that growing mentality
and it gives them clear targets and some
additional motivation to hit that target.
Bonuses can fit in any team of any size.
Some examples that you can do without a
lot of administrative burden, $25 gift
card if they hit a weekly goal, easy,
right?Or, you know, I've I've heard
somebody doing a $25 gift card to whoever
(11:26):
gets the most dials that week, you know,
stuff like that. Or maybe a quarterly
bonus if they hit certain metrics, those
kind of things. Or a team was
for us going into a breakout room,
breakout room. And we we if we reached a
certain goal, we were able to do this
breakout room. We would pay for it. And
(11:46):
and there was also a team exercise to
see, hey, who's who's good at
solving crazy riddles to get
out of a zombie room or something.
I don't know. So it's crazy stuff, but it
was really fun. And now we have that
shared story together. Yep.
OK, ready to get into a flexible
(12:06):
financial option benefit option that
could surprise and delight your staff?
Well, stay tuned for after the break.
Ready to take the next step towards
securing your financial future?Whether
you're planning for retirement, saving
(12:28):
for your dream home, or you just want to
make your money work harder for you. The
team at Wealth Wisdom Financial are ready
to assist you, and now it's easier than
ever to see how we might give you a boost
on your financial journey. Schedule a 15
minute discovery call with one of us
today and let's discuss your questions
and your financial goals together. Don't
(12:48):
wait any longer. Your financial freedom
awaits. Schedule your discovery call at
www.wealthwisdomfp.com/call.
Now, you might be thinking,
this all sounds great, but I'm running a
small business. I can't compete with
(13:10):
corporate benefit packages. We know that.
We can feel that sometimes. And here's
where creativity comes in. Well, we're
going to share with you today is what's
called the Section 162 Bonus Plan,
sometimes just easily called an executive
bonus plan, but don't let that executive
word scare you away, despite that fancy
name. It's actually quite simple and
(13:30):
quite accessible for small businesses. We
got a few points here. It's a way that
you can provide additional benefits to
key employees using life insurance.
You can use life insurance. Yeah. So the
business pays the premium and gets a tax
deduction. Yay for the business. The
employee owns the policy and can
(13:51):
access its value. Yes, we're using a
cash value type of life insurance, and
the employee can access that value to
become their own banker. The employee has
the option to contribute additional
premiums themselves if they want. The
cash value can be accessed tax-free
through policy loans. All the awesome
things about becoming your own banker and
banking on yourself that they're able to
(14:11):
do. It can be designed to
encourage long-term retention with
vesting schedules. Just like, you know,
401ks have vesting schedules. These can
too. There's minimal
administrative burden compared to those
other traditional benefits like 401K is
not a lot of paperwork, not a lot of
fees. So great that way. Yeah. If
(14:32):
you're a business owner and you've been
down that road, you know how crazy that
is sometimes. Yeah. It can also be
customized for different employees based
on their role and tenure. So let's say
you only want to have this bonus plan for
people who have reached a certain level
or a certain salary pay or something like
that, you can customize it. And it's
my favorite thing is you're giving a
(14:55):
long-term financial planning tool to
this employee that helps with their
financial literacy, helps them, you know,
get through the things that come up in
their lives. They've got, you know,
emergency funds. I can tap into all those
kind of things. And it's also a long-term
benefit for the company as well. Now,
there are a lot of creative ways to
structure these bonus plans, these
(15:16):
Section 162 bonus plans. You can tie the
benefit to company performance. You can
create a graduated scale based on years
of service. You can add a vesting
schedule of those company
contributions, and you can just include
it as part of an overall financial
wellness program that
lots of small businesses are able to
(15:36):
offer that the big businesses wouldn't
even take their time to offer. Yep.
Anything else you'd share about the
Section 162?I mean, again, I think a
lot of times in our financial world, we
tend to ignore it or wait. Or we
just listen to everybody should do a 401
because that's what is told,
right?And so as a business owner,
(15:57):
thinking outside the box, just like we do
all the time, is think outside the box
for the benefits for your employees. What
are the things that you can do that will
help them, uh, and their families, right?
And so that's something.
Also, the reason I love this is we're not
just locking it up. Until they're 59 and
a half, they might be able to use it for
(16:19):
an emergency. Most of your staff,
maybe, sometimes they don't even, they're
not budgeting and they don't have that
$400 emergency fund, but this is gonna
allow them to overcome the hurdle so
they can do work for you more because
they don't have to worry about the stress
of the blowing tire or whatever it is.
Yeah. So we've shared a lot today.
(16:41):
Businesses transform their retention
rates, though, by implementing just a few
of these strategies thoughtfully,
consistently. The key is to start small,
build momentum. Let's go back to Jen from
our opening story, the bakery owner, not
Amanda, not me. Yeah, Jen
used some of these strategies in her
bakery. She started with a simple peer
recognition program. Where the
(17:03):
each other got to say thank you, great
job to one another and she got to
participate in that and we're a great way
to put deposits in the the
thank you bank. She added some flexible
scheduling options cause flexibility is a
huge employee benefit that a lot of
corporations won't offer. And she
set up the Section 162 for her two
(17:23):
key managers and within a year of
of implementing all of these she saw her
turnover rate drop by 60% over
half. She was able to retain those
employees, keep them working for her, and
not going to those corporate bakeries.
Yeah. So the secret to retention
isn't the biggest budget. I'm gonna tell
you this again because everybody wants
(17:44):
the secret, right?Um, it is
not having the biggest budget. It's
about creating an environment where
people feel valued, supported,
and connected to something bigger than
themselves. That's the secret. Yeah.
So you can run with all these ideas we
shared today. However,
that Section 162 bonus plan, you might be
(18:06):
like, I need to learn more about this.
I'm not sure about it. Well, you're in
luck. We've got a bonus plan that
details and steps to implement
available in the Wealth Wisdom Financial
Community. You got to go visit
WealthWisdomFP.com/community,
where we've published today an article
outlining the Section 162 bonus plan.
(18:27):
It's details, steps to implement, how you
can learn more. And when you join that
community, you're also joining a
community of business owners who are
mastering the art of employee retention.
We'd love to see you in there. Again,it's
wealthwisdomfp.com/community.
We'll put a link in the show notes.
Awesome. And thanks for joining us. Don't
(18:47):
forget. Oh, I say that. Thanks for
joining us. Hit that subscribe button and
live long and profit. And write
a review. We love those. We'll share them
in our next episode as if you write a
review and the topics presented in this
podcast for general information only and
not for the purpose of providing legal,
(19:08):
accounting or investment advice. In such
matters, please consult a professional
who knows your specific situation.
Think keeping great employees means
spending a fortune on benefits?
Think again. Today we're diving into
smart employee benefits that work for
small businesses. Plus, we'll explore a
little known benefit option that could
give you a competitive edge without
breaking the bank. Whether you're looking
(00:21):
to keep your star performers or build
long-term loyalty across your team, this
episode is packed with practical
solutions you can implement right away.
In a world where chaos seems to reign
supreme, where uncertainty lurks around
every corner and financial markets are
(00:42):
now more unpredictable than ever. There's
one place you can turn to to find clarity
and control. Welcome to the Wealth Wisdom
Financial Podcast. Hey, I'm Brandon.
And I'm Amanda. Join us as we dive deep
in the world of personal and business
finance to assist you in navigating
through the chaos and building the
(01:03):
financial future you deserve. We believe
when conventional financial thinking
doesn't get you where you want to go, you
need wealth wisdom. So if you're ready to
take control of your financial destiny.
Tune in to the Wealth Wisdom Financial
Podcast because in a chaotic world,
your money shouldn't be. Subscribe
now and never miss an episode.
(01:26):
So let me tell you about Jen, a local
bakery owner who was struggling to keep
her best employees. She was losing them
to the bigger companies with deeper
pockets, and it was costing her more than
just money. It was affecting her
business's reputation and customer
relationships. But here's the thing, she
discovered that retention isn't
(01:47):
just about matching big company salaries
or benefits, it's about creating an
environment where people want to stay
and grow. Sounds similar to you. I
mean, you could have said Jen or Amanda.
I don't own a bakery. I
mean, we did own a coffee shop, so maybe
it's, I don't know, similar. So here's a
surprising stat. 79% of
(02:09):
people who quit their jobs
cite lack of appreciation as a
key reason. Not money,
not benefits, appreciation.
This tells us something crucial about
retention. It's not always about throwing
money at the problem. It's about
(02:30):
just saying,Thanks for a great job. Yeah,
and we just went through something that
people were calling the the great
resignation where lots of people quit
their jobs. And this stat kind of comes
from that time. They were quitting and
moving because they felt a lack of
appreciation. And we all kind of know the
hidden costs of turnover from the
(02:50):
business owner's perspective. Direct
costs like recruiting and training,
indirect costs like lost productivity and
customer relationships. The impact on
team morale and the company culture and
the ripple effect that it can have on
your business's reputation throughout the
community. Why are people leaving?Oh,
another person left. There must be
something fishy going on at that
(03:10):
business, right?Right But we
think that employee retention is going to
cost more than the
cost of turnover, so we don't do anything
about it. Yeah, I mean, it's crazy.
Uh, our bold opinion is this. If you want
a company that can grow and scale,
you need to retain top talent.
(03:33):
Again, if you want to have a
business that grows and scales, you need
to keep top talent.
And so we're gonna talk about three
core principles that help keep top
talent that are all benefits-based.
And they might surprise you. Yep. Yeah.
(03:53):
So you ready for this?Three core benefits
and employee benefit principles. The
first one is growth,
professional development opportunities.
That is a benefit of working at a
place is that there can be opportunities
for professional development. Not all
companies offer that. That is a benefit
that you can offer. a good understanding
(04:15):
of your future path, you know the
employee, their future path in the
company, you know their career path
within it, the company's future, how it
all kind of works together, that's
professional development. That is a
benefit. That also gives opportunities
for cross-training, learning other parts
of the business to know better how one's
role fits into that bigger picture.
(04:35):
That's a benefit to know like the bigger
picture, how things work together, be
able to have new knowledge in
different areas. And then it can go
beyond that to actually paid skills
development courses or licensing
programs. If you paid for that person's
license to do something, they're way more
likely to stick with you because they're
(04:56):
like, this person cares about me. Even if
I took that license and went somewhere
else, this was a professional development
opportunity that I received from here.
Anything else you'd say about growth and
professional development?Well, are we
going to talk about why business owners
maybe say, well, I don't want to do that
because. they say, well, all
right, they're gonna learn so
(05:18):
much that they're gonna leave me anyway.
Talk about it. Um, a lot of times I hear,
I hear people say, well, if I keep
do the, if I do this, then they're gonna
find a better job. They're gonna do this
or that. And so for me, I think, well, I
wanna keep investing in them as a
person and whether they leave or
(05:39):
not,I want them to be better because they
came as part of our community anyway, or
part of our business, right?And so I want
them to develop as a person, as an
individual, having a growth mindset. I
think that will help grow. Our
business, because not only am I
in a growth mindset, but I create a
(06:00):
culture of a growth mindset. So we want
to have that for not just us, but our
team where they want to grow and develop
and we give them the resources to do
that. Yeah. And we kind of talked about
this in our last episode that what
employee wouldn't want to work for a
growing business and a growing business
needs growing employees that are
developing professionally. And so that's
(06:22):
a great benefit to offer. Ready for
number two?Yeah, number two. Let's go for
it. Number two is connection. Developing
meaningful relationships at work. Now,
in an increasingly isolated
world, coworkers might be
one or the strongest or
the only social connection in
(06:44):
your employee's life. So building that
social cohesion is more important now
than ever. And this could have, you know,
some of the flexibility to work from
home. That's good. A lot of places are
returning to all in person and they're
going to have a bunch of people quit
because of doing that. But even if you're
totally remote, we found having at least
one day in person in office can make that
(07:07):
connection to the team way more powerful.
And it's not just about like in person or
versus virtual though, it's also
about your team having the time and space
to. be social, to do
icebreakers, to catch up on what happened
this weekend, you know, all those kind of
things. I think that water cooler stuff
is important. As much as we say, well,
(07:28):
no, we we need to be all about what we're
accomplishing, right?Having that water
cooler talk, talk talking,
let me go back. Having that water cooler
conversation does help us
to do bigger things because we actually
know about each other. We know both our
strengths and weaknesses. Yeah. And
(07:51):
if you have a profitable business, which
we hope you do, there's going to be time
for chit chat and team building. If your
team is always stressed and constantly
talking about work and feeling like
drive, drive, drive, focus, focus, focus,
you probably need to reevaluate your
profitability. The other thing in
coming together in relationships is just,
this has happened today. One of our staff
(08:13):
loves to bake, and so guess what happens?
Amanda can't eat half of the stuff.
that is out in the world. Thanks for
telling everybody. Yeah, you know, it's
the way it is. And so she loves
to bake. And so guess what?We get the
benefit of that becauseUm,
well, she bakes too much and she loves
(08:34):
that and she gives it to the team. Yeah.
On Mondays because of a level 10. Yeah.
Okay. Next, third, uh, principle, third
idea is value, showing your team
you value them. And this can be both
financial and non-financial. We're
going to come back after the break to
explore one of our favorite financial
(08:54):
benefits that you can do without breaking
the bank, because that's what this
episode's all about. But before the
break, let's talk about these
non-financialSo one
easy non-financial benefit
source of recognition is to say thank you
or good job. And I learned this from
somebody who's been a manager for
decades, where he was taught that you
(09:16):
want to say appreciation,
recognition at least three times
more than you give negative feedback. And
he called it making deposits in the bank.
If you want to take a withdrawal from the
bank in terms of negative feedback or
correction, you need to make deposits in
the bank first in order to be able to
take that withdrawal. You might share to
(09:37):
that person, you know, think. Thank you.
Good job. You might also share about
their successes or job well done with the
rest of the team, right?Public
recognition goes really far, and when
it's appropriate, not a breach of trust
or confidentiality. Also brag about your
people to other people outside the
company. your mentors, their family,
some you know key vendors that you use,
(09:59):
all those kinds of things, that's going
to get around and they're they're going
to hear back about it. Anything you'd say
about non-financial before we switch to
financial?Even our our son, he knows
all of the people here that work for us
and wants to meet them all.
And I think that is as well as
having a, not just caring
(10:21):
for them,But of their family,
of who they are taking care of,
knowing the kids names
and all of those things is very valuable.
Yeah, OK, now before we have the break
and dig into our favorite financial
benefit. I'm going to give you an easy
financial recognition program that you
(10:43):
might use, and it's just bonuses. You can
do team bonuses, individual bonuses, lots
of options. We love bonuses that are only
paid when certain financial goals are
met, so they're a share of the
profitability rather than an expense when
the company may or may not have the funds
to pay that bonus. Additionally, when
bonuses are paid for hitting goals, it
has that growth mindset. gives you know
(11:05):
the employees in that growing mentality
and it gives them clear targets and some
additional motivation to hit that target.
Bonuses can fit in any team of any size.
Some examples that you can do without a
lot of administrative burden, $25 gift
card if they hit a weekly goal, easy,
right?Or, you know, I've I've heard
somebody doing a $25 gift card to whoever
(11:26):
gets the most dials that week, you know,
stuff like that. Or maybe a quarterly
bonus if they hit certain metrics, those
kind of things. Or a team was
for us going into a breakout room,
breakout room. And we we if we reached a
certain goal, we were able to do this
breakout room. We would pay for it. And
(11:46):
and there was also a team exercise to
see, hey, who's who's good at
solving crazy riddles to get
out of a zombie room or something.
I don't know. So it's crazy stuff, but it
was really fun. And now we have that
shared story together. Yep.
OK, ready to get into a flexible
(12:06):
financial option benefit option that
could surprise and delight your staff?
Well, stay tuned for after the break.
Ready to take the next step towards
securing your financial future?Whether
you're planning for retirement, saving
(12:28):
for your dream home, or you just want to
make your money work harder for you. The
team at Wealth Wisdom Financial are ready
to assist you, and now it's easier than
ever to see how we might give you a boost
on your financial journey. Schedule a 15
minute discovery call with one of us
today and let's discuss your questions
and your financial goals together. Don't
(12:48):
wait any longer. Your financial freedom
awaits. Schedule your discovery call at
www.wealthwisdomfp.com/call.
Now, you might be thinking,
this all sounds great, but I'm running a
small business. I can't compete with
(13:10):
corporate benefit packages. We know that.
We can feel that sometimes. And here's
where creativity comes in. Well, we're
going to share with you today is what's
called the Section 162 Bonus Plan,
sometimes just easily called an executive
bonus plan, but don't let that executive
word scare you away, despite that fancy
name. It's actually quite simple and
(13:30):
quite accessible for small businesses. We
got a few points here. It's a way that
you can provide additional benefits to
key employees using life insurance.
You can use life insurance. Yeah. So the
business pays the premium and gets a tax
deduction. Yay for the business. The
employee owns the policy and can
(13:51):
access its value. Yes, we're using a
cash value type of life insurance, and
the employee can access that value to
become their own banker. The employee has
the option to contribute additional
premiums themselves if they want. The
cash value can be accessed tax-free
through policy loans. All the awesome
things about becoming your own banker and
banking on yourself that they're able to
(14:11):
do. It can be designed to
encourage long-term retention with
vesting schedules. Just like, you know,
401ks have vesting schedules. These can
too. There's minimal
administrative burden compared to those
other traditional benefits like 401K is
not a lot of paperwork, not a lot of
fees. So great that way. Yeah. If
(14:32):
you're a business owner and you've been
down that road, you know how crazy that
is sometimes. Yeah. It can also be
customized for different employees based
on their role and tenure. So let's say
you only want to have this bonus plan for
people who have reached a certain level
or a certain salary pay or something like
that, you can customize it. And it's
my favorite thing is you're giving a
(14:55):
long-term financial planning tool to
this employee that helps with their
financial literacy, helps them, you know,
get through the things that come up in
their lives. They've got, you know,
emergency funds. I can tap into all those
kind of things. And it's also a long-term
benefit for the company as well. Now,
there are a lot of creative ways to
structure these bonus plans, these
(15:16):
Section 162 bonus plans. You can tie the
benefit to company performance. You can
create a graduated scale based on years
of service. You can add a vesting
schedule of those company
contributions, and you can just include
it as part of an overall financial
wellness program that
lots of small businesses are able to
(15:36):
offer that the big businesses wouldn't
even take their time to offer. Yep.
Anything else you'd share about the
Section 162?I mean, again, I think a
lot of times in our financial world, we
tend to ignore it or wait. Or we
just listen to everybody should do a 401
because that's what is told,
right?And so as a business owner,
(15:57):
thinking outside the box, just like we do
all the time, is think outside the box
for the benefits for your employees. What
are the things that you can do that will
help them, uh, and their families, right?
And so that's something.
Also, the reason I love this is we're not
just locking it up. Until they're 59 and
a half, they might be able to use it for
(16:19):
an emergency. Most of your staff,
maybe, sometimes they don't even, they're
not budgeting and they don't have that
$400 emergency fund, but this is gonna
allow them to overcome the hurdle so
they can do work for you more because
they don't have to worry about the stress
of the blowing tire or whatever it is.
Yeah. So we've shared a lot today.
(16:41):
Businesses transform their retention
rates, though, by implementing just a few
of these strategies thoughtfully,
consistently. The key is to start small,
build momentum. Let's go back to Jen from
our opening story, the bakery owner, not
Amanda, not me. Yeah, Jen
used some of these strategies in her
bakery. She started with a simple peer
recognition program. Where the
(17:03):
each other got to say thank you, great
job to one another and she got to
participate in that and we're a great way
to put deposits in the the
thank you bank. She added some flexible
scheduling options cause flexibility is a
huge employee benefit that a lot of
corporations won't offer. And she
set up the Section 162 for her two
(17:23):
key managers and within a year of
of implementing all of these she saw her
turnover rate drop by 60% over
half. She was able to retain those
employees, keep them working for her, and
not going to those corporate bakeries.
Yeah. So the secret to retention
isn't the biggest budget. I'm gonna tell
you this again because everybody wants
(17:44):
the secret, right?Um, it is
not having the biggest budget. It's
about creating an environment where
people feel valued, supported,
and connected to something bigger than
themselves. That's the secret. Yeah.
So you can run with all these ideas we
shared today. However,
that Section 162 bonus plan, you might be
(18:06):
like, I need to learn more about this.
I'm not sure about it. Well, you're in
luck. We've got a bonus plan that
details and steps to implement
available in the Wealth Wisdom Financial
Community. You got to go visit
WealthWisdomFP.com/community,
where we've published today an article
outlining the Section 162 bonus plan.
(18:27):
It's details, steps to implement, how you
can learn more. And when you join that
community, you're also joining a
community of business owners who are
mastering the art of employee retention.
We'd love to see you in there. Again,it's
wealthwisdomfp.com/community.
We'll put a link in the show notes.
Awesome. And thanks for joining us. Don't
(18:47):
forget. Oh, I say that. Thanks for
joining us. Hit that subscribe button and
live long and profit. And write
a review. We love those. We'll share them
in our next episode as if you write a
review and the topics presented in this
podcast for general information only and
not for the purpose of providing legal,
(19:08):
accounting or investment advice. In such
matters, please consult a professional
who knows your specific situation.
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