Donald Trump has built billions of dollars in personal wealth. His employees aren't getting much of it.
The Republican presidential candidate operates an unusually stingy 401(k) plan for his workers, according to government filings.
If you can jump through hoops and endure years of working for Mr. Trump, his matching contributions are more generous than average. If you contribute 6% of your salary, Mr. Trump will kick in 4.5%.
But here's the catch. You can't even join the plan until you spend a year as a Trump employee. Call it an apprenticeship.
Then, if you want that matching contribution, you have to wait until the end of a calendar year. Leave — or get fired — in October, and you get nothing.
Even if you stay, Mr. Trump's contribution doesn't completely belong to you for six years. That vesting schedule is the slowest allowed under U.S. law.
(More: Tackling the challenge of 401(k)s for small businesses)
And if you worked for Mr. Trump from March 1, 2009 through June 30, 2012, you were out of luck entirely. Mr. Trump, who claimed an $8.7 billion net worth last month, suspended all employer contributions to 401(k)s for more than three years.
LOW SCORING PLAN
Under Bloomberg's rating system for 401(k) plans, Mr. Trump's scores a 30 out of a possible 100, lower than all but one of the top 50 companies by market capitalization. It scored one point back in 2011 when Mr. Trump wasn't matching contributions at all.
Hope Hicks, a spokeswoman for the Trump campaign, didn't comment in response to questions about the 401(k) plan on Monday.
The details are revealed in the forms filed annually with the Labor Department by the Trump Payroll Corp. 401(k)/Profit Sharing Plan, and they're worthwhile reading for anyone trying to analyze the business success that's the foundation of the Trump campaign.
As of the end of 2013 (the most recent information available) the Trump retirement plan had 1,136 participants with account balances totaling $22.9 million, or an average of just over $20,000.
The plan covers nonunionized employees of 35 entities in the Trump empire, including The Mar-a-Lago Club, Trump University, Trump Las Vegas Sales & Marketing Inc. and Eric Trump Wine Manufacturing.
NO AUTO ENROLLMENT
The Trump plan lacks automatic enrollment, a feature that dramatically increases participation rates, said Brigitte Madrian, a Harvard Kennedy School professor who reviewed the filings at Bloomberg's request.
(More: Top 10 401(k) plans among the biggest S&P 500 companies)
Also, she said, although many companies suspended matching contributions during the
recession, Trump resumed his later than others.
Ms. Madrian said, however, that the Trump plan looks fairly typical in industries with significant employee turnover.
"If the plan really wanted to facilitate employee savings, it would institute automatic enrollment, reduce or eliminate the eligibility requirement, and vest employees in the employer match more quickly," she said.
The Donald's apprentices would fare much better if they got jobs at the network that used to air his show: NBC, owned by Comcast. According to the most recent filings, the network's employees are fully vested in their matching contributions from day one.
