NFP survey finds a succession gap advisors can fill

Executive benefits have shifted from a retention task to a leadership-timing device, making the executive who keeps the business running the client asking when to leave—and most companies have no structure for that answer. NFP's 2026 U.S. Executive Benefits Trend Report, based on a survey of 273 executive-benefits decision-makers, finds 62% of organizations say succession planning for key employees will be a key focus as those workers approach retirement. Yet 49% have no executive-benefits strategy aimed at leadership transitions.

That gap lands inside the succession wave this publication has been tracking, as the owner's exit and the senior team's exit converge into one planning problem. Half of employers say key employees are working longer, and 56% say key employees have become more focused on retirement preparedness over the past year. When key employees work longer, the moment of succession is postponed, which suggests the transition problem is being deferred, not solved. Executive benefits still perform their old job: 99% of employers say they have succeeded in retaining top talent, and 94% say the same for recruiting. Confidence in retention alongside missing transition plans is where advisory work begins.

Non-qualified deferred compensation is the planning tool NFP flags for this gap, and the SECURE 2.0 change gives the conversation a hard date. Workers 50 and older earning roughly $150,000 or more must make catch-up contributions on an after-tax Roth basis; NQDC is not subject to that requirement, so employers can preserve pre-tax deferral opportunities for highly compensated employees. NFP argues this helps executives manage tax exposure and retirement savings needs; 82% of employers say NQDC plans have a high or moderate impact on plan success. For the advisor, the practical move is to turn an unexamined intention into a funded, tax-aware timeline.

NFP reads the broader trend as a shift from retention tools toward flexibility, individualized planning and continuity, though the survey population of executive-benefits decision-makers means the numbers describe employer perception rather than plan documents. For the advisor serving a business owner, the report turns a soft succession conversation into a data-backed one: 62% of organizations in the survey call succession a key focus, and 49% have no executive-benefits strategy to support it. That spread is the opening.

When an owner says the CFO is staying a few more years, the follow-up is whether the company has a plan for the day after. The 49% without an executive-benefits transition strategy represent the addressable market for a conversation that starts with the successor's name and the deferral schedule, not the product brochure.