"Re the definition of compensation for qualified plan purposes (for a plan that uses W-2 comp) -- As I understand it, absent a specific exclusion in the plan, FMLA wages, even if under a 'special' category for employer SS payroll taxes or whatever, would still be considered as wages for purposes of calculating employer match, whatever. Did anything override this that I missed?"

"Seems to me that many non-ERISA plans require employer sign-offs for things like distributions and loans. I read some articles that seem to suggest that the only way to have a non-ERISA plan is for an independent party to sign off on everything. Is that how it works in the real world (I only work with ERISA plans so forgive my ingorance on this aspect)?"

"A client has received both Schedule C income and W-2 income, both of which came from his own businesses (sole proprietorship and an S corp). How can we run the DB calculation in this case? Should I use earned income + W-2 as the compensation basis? What about deductions? How can we break down the contribution among sole proprietorship and S corp?"

"Hello, this might be a dumb question but I am curious as to know if the funds that are allocated in an employee’s ESOP account compound as the ESOP matures the same way that money sitting in a 401k for many years has compounded interest? I have worked at this company that is employee owned for 15 years and I plan to retire there in another 25 years or so.

If I may, I only have only one more question. Do most people diversify when they are 55 and over and have been working at the ESOP-sponsoring company for over 10 years? I mean, if the company has done so well for all of the years that they have been there, would it be foolish not to diversify? I would hate to miss out on a much larger return by diversifying but I also realize that any company can go bankrupt and lose everything. Just wondering if there are people that ride the ESOP 100% until retirement."