Small Businesses

If you're self-employed or own a small business and you haven't established a retirement savings plan, what are you waiting for? A retirement plan can help
you and your employees save for the future.

A retirement plan can have significant tax
advantages:
• Your contributions are deductible when made
• Your contributions aren't taxed to an employee until distributed from the plan
• Money in the retirement program grows tax deferred (or, in the case of Roth accounts, potentially tax free)

There are several types of retirement plans that small business owners can choose from. Retirement plans are usually either IRA-based (like SEPs and SIMPLE IRAs) or "qualified" (like 401(k)s, profit-sharing plans, and defined benefit plans). Qualified plans are generally more complicated and expensive to maintain than IRA-based plans because they have to comply with specific Internal Revenue Code and ERISA (the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974) requirements in order to qualify for their tax benefits. Also, qualified plan assets must be held either in trust or by an insurance company. With IRA-based plans, your employees own (i.e.,"vest" in) your contributions immediately. With qualified plans, you can generally require that your employees work a certain numbers of years before they vest.

Other self employment options include traditional benefits; In order to remain competitive, nearly all employers should offer some form of health insurance and
retirement savings plan. Yet according to the U.S. Department of Labor, only 58% of small employers (those with fewer than 100 employees) offer health coverage and just 52% offer a retirement plan. (Source: National Compensation Survey, March
2015) Traditional benefits that your financial advisor can help with include health insurance, retirement planning and financial planning and education.

If any of these areas interest you call and set up an appointment today.