Preparing for life after HDR?
Navigating the BEST Plan is one of the biggest financial decisions you'll make.
Disclaimer: this site is not affiliated with HDR, the BEST Plan, or any related entity involved with the administration of the plan (e.g., Charles Schwab). This site is for general information purposes only, and nothing here should be conisdered to be investment or tax advice. Each individual's circumstances are unique, and plan details can change over time, so consult a qualified tax or investment professional before making any decisions about your personal situation.
THE GAP
Nobody has the full picture
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If you're an HDR employee, you have access to a very unique retirement savings vehicle — the BEST (Building Employee Savings Today) Plan. As you prepare for retirement, you may find that:
HDR's HR department can't provide investment advice.
Schwab can't provide tax advice.
If you have an accountant, it's likely they've never encountered a combined Employee Stock Option + 401k option like the BEST Plan.
When you begin to look ahead to life after HDR, there are a lot of decisions to make, the wrong ones can be costly, and it's likely that no one on your current team is looking at the full picture.
YOUR PLAN IS ONE-OF-A-KIND
Generic ESOP advice doesn't account for what makes HDR unique
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HDR is a 100% employee-owned S-corporation. There is no public market for your shares. That means a lot of the generic Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) guidance doesn't apply to you and HDR's BEST Plan.
S-corp structure
HDR is taxed as an S-corporation — corporate earnings pass through to shareholders. For you, retained earnings get added to your cost basis every year. That detail matters enormously at distribution time.
'Put Option' mechanics
Non-employees can't hold HDR stock. When you leave, HDR offers a Put Option to sell shares back at fair market value. Whether it makes sense to exercise or not depends on a number of factors, and may have significant tax consequences.
ESOP mechanics
Your BEST Plan is technically a KSOP — a combined ESOP and 401(k). Both components matter, but they operate under completely different rules, especially at distribution time.
Diversification options
BEST Plan participants with 10+ years can diversify 25% of shares at age 55, and 50% at age 60. How and whether you use this window may interact directly with your distribution strategy.
DISTRIBUTION · TWO PATHS
Your stock gets sold either way — the question is how it gets taxed
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Whether you resign, retire, or get laid off, you're required to sell your HDR shares during the next annual Buy/Sell window. Only active employees can hold HDR stock. That part isn't optional.
What you do get to choose is how that sale happens — and the two paths lead to very different tax outcomes.
PATH A
Redeem & Reinvest (the default)
Your HDR stock is sold at the current appraised share price. The cash proceeds are reinvested into the diversified fund options already selected in your account. The money stays inside the plan or rolls to an IRA. This happens automatically if you don't submit any paperwork. Every dollar you eventually withdraw from that IRA gets taxed as ordinary income.
PATH B
The Put Option (requires action)
You elect to receive a lump-sum distribution of your HDR stock — the actual shares, not cash. HDR then exercises its right to repurchase them at the appraised value. The critical difference: receiving the stock as a distribution may open the door to Net Unrealized Appreciation (NUA) tax treatment — where the appreciation on your shares could be taxed at long-term capital gains rates instead of ordinary income rates.
THE REAL QUESTION
What makes sense for your situation depends on factors specific to you — your tax bracket, your cost basis, your other assets, and your timeline. That's why it's such a hard decision to make on your own.
WHY THIS PAGE EXISTS
The BEST Plan in more than a cornerstone to building the retirement you want
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My father spent 30 years at HDR. I heard HDR stories around the dinner table, and met many of his coworkers. I know what a special place it is, and the fact that it's employee-owned is a big piece of what makes it unique.
When it finally came time for him to retire, the BEST Plan wasn't the cornerstone or foundation of his retirement plan — it was most of the building. He tracked the annual valuations and saw his account balance steadily grow, and with it, the distribution question and the reality of "is this enough to achieve the retirement I want?" loomed larger every year.
But when it came time to make decisions, help was fragmented. HDR's team could clarify some plan facts but couldn't give investment or retirement advice. Schwab could help with general investment guidance but couldn't provide tax advice. Meanwhile, his accountant was great at filing annual taxes but wasn't versed in long-term financial planning or portfolio construction. Everyone had a piece of the picture. Nobody was looking at the whole thing.
I built this page because HDR is one of the largest 100% employee-owned companies in the country, and I know there are other employees like my father — straightforward, down-to-earth people wary of advisors that are too slick or too fancy — who are trying to make the right choices in what is one of the biggest financial decisions of their life.
Don't make decisions without seeing the full picture clearly
If your situation is more complex than a web page can cover — and for most HDR employees with a significant BEST Plan balance, it is — this is exactly the kind of decision I help people think through.
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Frequently Asked Questions