Neiman Marcus 2009 Annual Report Download - page 63

Table of Contents
were frozen and all remaining participants, including Ms. Katz, Mr. Tansky, and Mr. Barnes, were moved into The Neiman Marcus
Group, Inc. Retirement Savings Plan (referred to as the RSP).
Savings Plans. Effective January 1, 2008, a new enhanced 401(k) plan, The Neiman Marcus Group, Inc. Retirement Savings
Plan (referred to as the RSP) was established and offered to all employees, including the named executive officers, as the primary
retirement plan. Benefits and accruals under a previous 401(k) plan, The Neiman Marcus Group, Inc. Employee Savings Plan
(referred to as the ESP), were frozen as well as benefits and accruals under the Retirement Plan. All future and current employees
who were not already enrolled in the ESP were automatically enrolled in the RSP. "Rule of 65" employees, as described above, were
given a choice to either continue participation in the Retirement Plan and the ESP or freeze what was earned under those plans through
December 31, 2007 and participate in the RSP. The RSP is a tax-qualified defined contribution 401(k) plan that allows participants to
contribute up to the limit prescribed by the Internal Revenue Service on a pre-tax basis. The Company matches 100% of the first 3%
and 50% of the next 3% of pay that is contributed to the RSP after the first year of employment. All employee contributions to the
RSP are fully vested upon contribution. Company matching contributions vest after two years of service. The Company will match
100% of the first 2% and 25% of the next 4% of pay that is contributed to the ESP. All employee contributions to the ESP are fully
vested upon contribution. Company matching contributions vest after three years of service. Effective August 1, 2010, benefits and
accruals under the ESP were frozen for the remaining "Rule of 65" active employees and such participants were moved into the RSP.
Supplemental Retirement Plan and Key Employee Deferred Compensation Plan. U.S. tax laws limit the amount of benefits
that we can provide under our tax-qualified plans. We maintain The Neiman Marcus Group, Inc. Supplemental Executive Retirement
Plan (referred to as the SERP) and the Neiman Marcus Group, Inc. Key Employee Deferred Compensation Plan (referred to as the
KEDC Plan), which are unfunded, nonqualified arrangements intended to provide named executive officers and certain other key
employees with additional benefits, including the benefits that they would have received under the Retirement Plan, the ESP and the
RSP if the tax law limitations did not apply and if certain other items of compensation could be included in calculation of benefits
under our tax-qualified plans. Prior to 2008, executive, administrative and professional employees (other than those employed as
salespersons) with an annual base salary at least equal to a minimum established by the Company were eligible to participate in the
SERP. Similar to the Retirement Plan, effective December 31, 2007, eligibility and benefit accruals under the SERP were frozen for
all participants not meeting the "Rule of 65" and such participants were moved into The Neiman Marcus Group, Inc. Defined
Contribution Supplemental Executive Retirement Plan (DC SERP). Effective August 1, 2010, all benefits and accruals under the
SERP for "Rule of 65" employees were frozen and such participants will be moved into the DC SERP. SERP related benefits are
more fully described under "Pension Benefits" beginning on page 66 of this section.
Participation in the KEDC Plan is limited to employees whose base salary is in excess of $300,000 and meet other stated
criteria. Amounts in excess of those benefits provided under the 401(K) plans are credited to the account balances of each KEDC Plan
participant. KEDC Plan benefits are more fully described under "Nonqualified Deferred Compensation" beginning on page 68 of this
section.
Matching Gift Program. All employees, including the named executive officers, may participate in our matching gift
program. Under the program, we will match charitable contributions by employees up to a maximum of $2,000 per qualifying
organization on a two-for-one basis in each calendar year. For any contribution made to a qualifying organization in which the
employee has an active involvement (as evidenced by service on the organization's governing body or in one of its working
committees), the basis of our matching contribution may, upon application by the employee, be increased to a level greater than two-
for-one.
Perquisites. We provide perquisites and other personal benefits that we believe are reasonable and consistent with the nature
of individual responsibilities in order to provide a competitive level of total compensation to our executives. We believe the level of
perquisites is within an acceptable range of what is offered by a group of industry related companies. The Compensation Committee
believes that these benefits are aligned with the Company's desire to attract and retain superior management talent for the benefit of all
stockholders. The value of these benefits to the named executive officers is set forth in the Summary Compensation Table under the
column "All Other Compensation" and detail about each benefit is set forth in a table following the Summary Compensation Table.
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