Course 4.5 · 55 minutes

Retirement Plans for Business Owners: SEP, SIMPLE, Solo 401(k), and Cash Balance

Pick the retirement plan that lets you put away the most money at the lowest cost for your situation, and set it up before the deadline.

Who it is for: Owners with no employees, and owners with a few.
Runtime: 55 minutes

Pre-order: this course is in development and appears in your portal the day it is released. Buy 5 or more and every course is 30% off.

See the full track See the full curriculum

Instant download after payment. Nothing is withheld for a later purchase.

What you receive

Retirement Plan comparison chart: limits, deadlines, costs, and fit
Maximum Contribution Calculator by entity (Excel)
Plan Selection decision tree
Plan Setup and Deadline Calendar
Controlled Group screening worksheet
The narrated lesson. 55 minutes, cued to the deck, with chapter markers by lesson. Emailed to you the day it publishes, at no extra cost.

What the course covers

01Why owner plans beat personal IRAs4 min
02The plans side by side: SEP, SIMPLE, solo 401(k), and defined benefit or cash balance12 min
03The SECURE 2.0 features: startup credits, Roth employer contributions, and the catch-ups6 min
04How compensation is measured for each entity type5 min
05Deadlines: setup, deposits, and the small-plan return5 min
06Worked example: an S corporation owner with a 120,000 dollar salary under each plan9 min
07Tricks of the trade: pairing a 401(k) with a cash balance plan, hiring the spouse, and after-tax contributions7 min
08Mistakes and traps: the controlled group rules, top-heavy testing, and the missed small-plan return5 min
09Action plan and recap2 min

How it fits: Requires 4.3. Pairs with 7.3 and 4.6.

The standard every course holds

A narrated lesson of 45 to 60 minutes, produced as audio
A designed slide deck you download and keep
A computational workbook that runs the actual legal tests
A toolkit of checklists and protocols
A legal authority appendix carrying the two-pass vetting protocol

Written for a diligent reader with no legal education. Professionally narrated using a studio voice model of Brian T. Boyd. The course is recorded instruction, not a live consultation.

Where this course sits

Track 4: Business Planning

This course is one step in a track built around a single outcome. See the full build order and the other courses that get you there.

Back to this track

Educational material from the private client curriculum of Brian T. Boyd. This is legal education for a general audience, not legal advice, and no attorney-client relationship is created by purchasing, viewing, or using it. Tax outcomes depend on your facts and your state.