patrick.net

a href="/post/1320684&#comment-1553374">Blue says

Patrick says

Is a solo 401k the same as an SEP IRA?

No.

SEP - contribute up to 25% of the salary.

solo or i401k - has two parts to contribute:
1. Employee Contributions: As an employee, you can defer up to 100% of your compensation, or “earned income” up to $18,000 (plus $6k if you're 50+ = $24k max)
2. Employer Contributions: This is a bit complicated to calculate, its anywhere from 20% to 25% depends on your situation (irs.gov site has a form to do math)
btw, if the account total value goes more than $250k, irs expects to fill certain form(s) periodically and submit to clients I guess.

In either case account has to be opened on or before Dec 31 tax year to contribute.

Yes, https://www.kiplinger.com/article/retirement/T047-C000-S003-solo-401k-contribution-limits-for-2018.html
You can contribute as the employer too, bringing it to a potential total of $61K. And, as you said, up to 100% of "compensation", so if you have a spouse who does 1099 work as a gig but doesn't make a ton of dough, it seems like you could drop all or most of it into the Solo 401k.

I think you have to create the account by EOY, but can fund it as late as the end of your tax filing (maybe even in this case, October of 2019 if you have filing extensions)

ETrade, it seems to me, charges per transaction (like when you buy or sell the ETFs). But some also have a monthly fee and like an expense ratio? Any additional expounding on the fees part?

The main outfits I checked out, preliminarily were TD Ameritrade, Fidelity, ETrade, Capital One and Vanguard.

Thanks folks!

I did a bunch of research, and I'm opening up an ETrade solo 401k for my wife. She's a 1099.

PrivilegedtobeWhite says

I did a bunch of research, and I'm opening up an ETrade solo 401k for my wife. She's a 1099.

You're welcome! :)

Any reason you chose them over the competitors?

Yeah, recommend Vanguard for Individual 401k.

The Lifestrategy Growth or Moderate Growth Funds are good picks as far as a fund of index funds.

CL says

PrivilegedtobeWhite says

I did a bunch of research, and I'm opening up an ETrade solo 401k for my wife. She's a 1099.

You're welcome! :)

Any reason you chose them over the competitors?

Why am I welcome?

ETrade allows loans against your 401k.

CL says

Anyone ever do a Solo

I do.

But sometimes, it's always a difficult choice which color.

PrivilegedtobeWhite says

CL says

PrivilegedtobeWhite says

I did a bunch of research, and I'm opening up an ETrade solo 401k for my wife. She's a 1099.

You're welcome! :)

Any reason you chose them over the competitors?

Why am I welcome?

ETrade allows loans against your 401k.

Oh, I thought you did your research as a result of my posting this. What you are saying is that you did a lot of research, and the fruits of that are that you determined ETrade to be the best?

Also, I have seen "loans" as being a decision point for a lot of people, but I don't get what the big deal is? In case of calamity?

CL says

Oh, I thought you did your research as a result of my posting this. What you are saying is that you did a lot of research, and the fruits of that are that you determined ETrade to be the best?

Also, I have seen "loans" as being a decision point for a lot of people, but I don't get what the big deal is? In case of calamity?

Ah no. I had done the research anyway. ETrade just seemed to be low cost and flexible with little restrictions. I don't remember all the details. Regarding loans, it's not a big deal but it is an advantage over Vanguard, for example. Why go with another company where you can't get a loan? Never know when you might need the money for a house or hardship or whatever.

Thanks everyone!