Savings with a twist.

• Position: 401-k plans - Includes related article on employee retirement plans

Employees need better ways to save, and companies need better ways to help them. What's a financial executive to do? Offer a 401 (k) plan with some pizzazz.

When the IRS informally sanctioned plans for a new 401(k) credit card earlier this year, the editors at Financial Executive took note. If consumers can now tap this tax-free, long-term savings account for daily expenses, what other unique 401(k) financial instruments and creative features are lurking out there? We put that question before some of the nation's leading plan providers to see what we could find.

Our flash survey garnered a range of responses. We heard from plan providers offering full-service, bundled products complete with multiple investment options, recordkeeping and trust services as well as comprehensive employee education programs. We also heard about customized, stand-alone investment management products and services.

Overall, we found that 401(k) plan designers are getting more creative for two basic reasons: to increase plan participation and to accommodate special situations, like highly compensated employees.

Ohio-based Banc One, for example, seems to be leading the way toward more accessible long-term savings. The bank is the mastermind behind the 401(k) credit card and has "loosened the strings" on previously "untouchable" retirement accounts with a program that makes it very easy for participants to borrow from their own retirement nest egg.

Boston-based Fidelity administers a plan for the Gillette Company that makes special provisions for highly compensated employees. This plan mirrors the company's qualified plan.

But, when we asked the plan providers how many allow nonqualified wraparound arrangements to maximize deferrals of highly compensated employees, it wasn't a shoo-in. Some do, some don't and some go halfway. (In a private letter ruling last year, the Internal Revenue Service okayed the use of these wraparound plans to temporarily hold the contributions of high-paid employees for later transfer to the qualified 401(k) plan. In this way, a company can avoid exceeding the allowable ADP percentage, which may call for burdensome plan adjustments or refunds.)

And for employees who have the urge to take control of their retirement savings strategy, Minnesota-based American Express Institutional Services offers one of the more hands-on 401(k) programs. The company helped design, and currently administers, a plan for Pillsbury that features a "self-directed" option for employees. Through this program, participants add a twist to making their own investment decisions and creating a 401(k) plan that's best suited to their individual risk tolerance and retirement objectives.

While Americans have never been known for their ability to save, this survey convinced us that 401(k) plan designers are doing their best to make it hard not to. Take a look at some of the unique plan features we learned about.

FLAGSTAR CORP. Spartanburg, S.C. $2.6-billion restaurant chain 100,000 employees (Includes two plans: Flagstar's and Denny's)

PLAN PROFILE

8,000 employees participate...