The ideal candidate for this plan type is an employer with six or fewer employees and, like Hank Jones, has stable business profits. The business owner should be within 5 to 10 years of retirement and desire to put away the maximum deductible contribution available in a fully guaranteed plan. The plan may provide for an insured death benefit to provide extra protection and increased deductions. This is a good plan design to consider for business owners starting a second career who desire to reduce their taxable income and increase their tax deductions. Self-employed individuals should adopt this plan only if they have expectations of stable future income.

Defined Benefit 412(i) plans may also provide a solution to those small employers with traditional defined benefit plans who are no longer able to make as large a deductible contribution as they would like. This plan type often allows for those employers to significantly increase their deductible contribution.