Excerpt: Cash-balance plans are a type of defined-benefit plan governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. They can be effective for high earners, particularly professionals, because they allow far more pretax dollars to be socked away than a traditional 401(k) or profit-sharing plan. 'They allow you to turbo-charge what you're putting away,' says Matthew Tuttle, a financial adviser in Stamford, Conn. In 2009, the maximum 401(k) contribution for someone under 50 is $16,500; it's $49,000 for a profit-sharing plan. In contrast, someone using a cash-balance plan could 'save larger sums in a relatively short period of time,'[.]  MORE >>