There is no such thing as a Variable Benefit plan with the IRS. All discussions about retirement plans are based on how you are paid or your benefit. There are two types of benefit plans: Defined contribution plans - 401(k), profit-sharing, and other defined contribution plans generally pay retirement benefits in a lump sum or installments.

Defined benefit plans - The normal method distribution is an annuity paid over the employee’s life or the joint lives of the employee and his or her spouse (unless they elect otherwise). https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans...-plan-benefits


We are calling this a Variable Benefit Plan because that is what Blitzstein called it in his Warton MBA thesis (https://pensionresearchcouncil.whart...Blitzstein.pdf)

It's really some sort of hybrid plan. (https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans...d-benefit-plan) This plan does not exist anywhere else in the format that has been proposed to us. MLB has a somewhat similar plan in that eligible members get a defined benefit that is not a fixed amount. However, MLB players are qualified if they play one day and even if they work the max number of years, then they are maybe 40. So the plan has decades to have returns before they begin paying out.

This is a Defined Benefit plan for the sake of the IRS and Variable for us as we will not be guaranteed a benefit.