George Carlin once said that the whole meaning of life is not dying, unfortunately, my favorite comedian died from a bad heart. As an ERISA attorney, I believe that the whole purpose of an employer starting and maintaining a retirement plan is saving for retirement and the more money an employer can put away for their employees is less money for the government to get their hands on. Through careful plan design, an employer can maximize contributions to their highly compensated employees while offering a benefit to their lower-paid staff. Poor plan design can be costly to the employer through unnecessary contributions, taxable refunds to highly compensated employees, or inefficient use of plan features. So that’s why it’s important to employers to find third-party administrators (TPAs) and ERISA attorneys (cough, cough) to help them navigate through the many different types of retirement plans and plan features. This article is about how plan sponsors can make employer contributions to the limit that puts more money in the pockets of their highly compensated employees and less money in the pockets of government.