Most families and small business owners are still unaware on exactly how the rules work when it comes to contributing to a traditional IRA account. So here are a few facts you should know about these accounts almost forty years into the making.
Ted Jenkin
Retirement Plans for the Small Business Owner: The SEP Plan
Simplified Employee Pension (SEP) plans can provide a significant source of income at retirement by allowing employers to set aside money in retirement accounts for themselves and their employees. A SEP does not have the start-up and operating costs of a conventional retirement plan and allows for a contribution of up to 25 percent of each employee’s pay.
Retirement Plans for the Small Business Owner: The Solo 401k
Self-Employed individuals and owner-only (and the owner’s spouse) businesses and partnerships can save more for retirement through a 401(k) plan. The Self-Employed 401(k) allows you to take advantage of this increased retirement and tax savings opportunity with a full range of investment options.
Retirement Plans for the Small Business Owner: The SIMPLE Plan
Since there are so many people setting up individual LLC’s or home based side businesses, you need to keep a close eye out this time of year for setting up one kind of retirement plan, a SIMPLE IRA. The deadlines are just around the corner in the next few weeks, so could this be the right type of retirement plan for you?
Passion, Persistence, and Perseverance
Undoubtedly, in your first year of business you will make your fair share of mistakes, just like anyone starting a new venture. There are so many valuable pieces of wisdom to learn as an entrepreneur, but here are my big three traits you must have to truly succeed in your business.
Execution
During the first couple of years in business, you will constantly be challenged with the bicycle pedals of motivation and discipline. When motivation wanes, discipline must kick in to keep the bicycle moving. Some of the best leaders and managers in business don’t achieve peak results because they simply don’t execute the plan.
The Marketing Plan
Marketing your products and services is the lifeblood of a new business. While you can ultimately have all kinds of long term business strategies, without having a steady stream of new revenue your new business venture can close up in a short period of time.
Milking the Business
If you have worked for a corporation for a few years before you start your own venture, you need to really prepare for the first time of not having a paycheck every two weeks. While you hear stories about all the personal things that your business can pay for through the company, milking your company can be a very big problem.
Poor Staffing Decisions
No entrepreneur lives in the utopia of having zero turnover (although sometimes they might like to make it seem that way), but certainly making the right staffing decisions by putting people in the right roles can allow your startup venture to scale quickly. The wrong staffing decisions can leave your new company mired in constant unplanned change.
You Must Hire Professional Consultants
Since many new entrepreneurial ventures are often started on a shoestring budget, where you spend your financial resources can be a prickly situation. When is the right time to get yourself legal help? Do you really need an outside person to do your books or can you do it yourself?
