Our Board of Directors-approved Shoe Carnival Retirement Savings Plan (the “Domestic Savings Plan”) is open to all employees working in the continental United States who have been employed for at least one year, are at least 21 years of age and who work at least 1,000 hours in a defined year. The primary savings mechanism under the Domestic Savings Plan is a 401(k) plan under which an employee may contribute up to 20% of annual earnings with a matching Company contribution up to the first 4% at a rate of 50%. Our contributions to the participants’ accounts become fully vested when participants reach their third anniversary of employment with us.

Our Board of Directors-approved Shoe Carnival Puerto Rico Savings Plan (the “Puerto Rico Savings Plan”) is open to all employees working in Puerto Rico who have been employed for at least one year, are at least 21 years of age and who work at least 1,000 hours in a defined year. This plan is similar to our Domestic Savings Plan, whereby an employee may contribute up to 20% of his or her annual earnings, with a matching Company contribution up to the first 4% at a rate of 50%.

Contributions charged to expense associated with these plans were $1.0 million, $1.0 million and $949,000 in fiscal years 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively.

We have a non-qualified deferred compensation plan for certain key employees who, due to Internal Revenue Service guidelines, cannot take full advantage of the employer-sponsored 401(k) plan. Participants in the plan may elect on an annual basis to defer, on a pre-tax basis, portions of their current compensation until retirement, or earlier if so elected. We voluntarily match a portion of the employees’ contributions, which is subject to vesting requirements. The compensation deferred under this plan is credited with earnings or losses measured by the rate of return on investments elected by plan participants. The liabilities of our deferred compensation plan are presented in Deferred Compensation, a long-term liability, or in Accrued and Other Liabilities if scheduled payments are due within the next 12 months.

We invest in publicly traded mutual funds with readily determinable fair values. These Marketable Securities are designed to mitigate volatility in our Consolidated Statements of Income associated with our non-qualified deferred compensation plan. As of February 3, 2024, these Marketable Securities were principally invested in equity-based mutual funds, consistent with the allocation in our deferred compensation plan. To the extent there is a variation in invested funds compared to the total non-qualified deferred compensation plan liability, such fund variance is managed through a stable value mutual fund. We classify these Marketable Securities as current assets because we have the ability to convert the securities into cash at our discretion and these Marketable Securities are not held in a rabbi trust. Changes in these Marketable Securities and deferred compensation plan liabilities are charged to Selling, General and Administrative Expenses.

The following tables present the balances and activity of the Company's deferred compensation plan liabilities and related Marketable Securities:


(In thousands)	February 3, 2024		January 28, 2023
Deferred compensation plan current liabilities	$	114	$	1,514
Deferred compensation plan long-term liabilities		11,639		9,840
Total deferred compensation plan liabilities	$	11,753	$	11,354
Marketable securities - mutual funds that fund deferred compensation	$	12,247	$	11,601


(In thousands)	2023			2022			2021 (1)
Deferred compensation liabilities
Employer contributions, net	$	302		$	346		$	267
Investment earnings (losses)		1,266			(681	)		1,029
Marketable Securities
Mark-to-market (gains) losses (2)		(1,246	)		806			721
Net deferred compensation expense	$	322		$	471		$	2,017

(1) We began investing in these Marketable Securities to fund the deferred compensation plan in July 2021, thus Fiscal 2021 has a full year of activity for deferred compensation liabilities and Marketable Securities earnings and loss only in the last seven months of Fiscal 2021.

(2) Included in the mark-to-market gains, in Fiscal 2023, we recognized unrealized gains of $1.4 million related to equity securities still held at February 3, 2024. Included in the mark-to-market losses, in Fiscal 2022 and Fiscal 2021, we recognized unrealized losses of $833,000 and $2.0 million related to equity securities still held at January 28, 2023 and January 29, 2022, respectively.