posted: Dec. 29, 2006 @ 8:41a

alert mods    

Can someone suggest what is the best venue to put the most retirement investment for a self-empoyed individual who only made about $2,500 in 2006. I know that based upon the earned income of both spouses we can do a Roth IRA for $4,000 each (since spouse made most, but under limit for married), my understanding is there is a SEP, solo 401K, keough, thoughts. We would like to invest all or most of the $2,500 for retirment. Also what is the deadline for 2006?

Thanks!

   posted: Dec. 29, 2006 @ 9:54a

alert mods    

Generally speaking, a solo 401(k) is going to be the best by far when you have a very low income. It will let you contribute 100% of self-employment income up to the 401(k) cap ($15,000 for '06, $15,500 for '07). That assumes that you do NOT contribute to another 401(k) or 403(b): the cap applies to all employee contributions from all plans. The other options will generally let you contribute only 25% of income.

A SIMPLE IRA would also work for you, but it has a lower cap (and is somewhat more obscure).

   posted: Dec. 29, 2006 @ 12:22p

alert mods    

The Fidelity site has a great comparison showing the advantages of Solo 401K over SEP-IRA. I don't have the URL handy but shouldn't be too hard to find. (I did a SEP-IRA a few years ago. At the time, I didn't find a low-cost 401K option but the Fidelity one appears to be free.) Disclaimer: I don't have an account with Fidelity nor have I compared their info to others, I just came across it in a brief search a few days ago.