Explain the different 401k programs, such as traditional, safe harbor and simple.?
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A SIMPLE (Savings Incentive Match Plan for Employees) is not a 401k. It is a qualified plan design that is appropriate for small businesses (100 or fewer employees) that want a retirement plan but cannot afford a 401k, profit sharing, or other such plan. A SIMPLE plan has two contribution sources, employee elective contributions and employer contributions. The employee gets to choose to defer up to $10,000 per year into the plan. The employer has to either match employee contributions dollar for dollar on the first 3% of salary deferred, or contribute 2% of salary to all eligible employees, whether they defer their own pay or not.\n\nA 401k by comparison gives the employer alot more flexibility and control, allowing the plan to be designed with vesting schedules (Employer contriubutions on your behalf aren't all yours right away), flexibility of employer contributions (Employer can choose whether or not to match, have annual profit sharing contribution, etc) and more stringent eligibility rules. 401k's also have higher contribution limits.\n\nThe Safe Harbor provision for a 401k is a provision that when adopted allows for the elimination of certain annual tests. this results in a plan that allows highly compensated employees to contribute the maximum amount from their own pay regardless of the participation rate of the non-highly compensated employees. In order to qualify for the Safe Harbor provision, the employer has to provide a match of at least 100% of the first 3% of salary deferred plus 50% of the next 2% of salary deferred. in essence, any employee that contributes 5% of their salary or more would receive a 4% of salary employer match.
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I work with small to mid-sized businesses helping them design and implement retirement plans and other benefit programs. Your question is not easily answered mainly because the term "excellent" can mean so many different things. I assume you are looking for a TPA. Do you want the TPA to handle the recordkeeping also? Are you looking to replace a TPA on an existing plan or is this a new plan? Do you need new investment management also?\n\nTypically, a 401k plan has three distinct roles to be filled - Investment management, Administration and recordkeeping. This can be handled all by one company (a "bundled" plan) or by two or more firms (unbundled).\n\nI find alot of value for  smaller clients with the American Funds platforms, both bundled and unbundled. If the client is more price sensitive Oppenheimer also offers good platforms. My best advice would be to find a local financial planner that specializes in retirement plan design.\n\nIf you happen to be in PA, DE, NJ or FL, I can help you. Let me know if you would like to discuss this more.
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1. Put money away in a 401K.   If your company matches it, you can make money on it right away.  Second, it reduces your taxable income (as you are not charged taxes on the money you save), and might put you in a lower tax bracket.  You can save $14,000 annually.\n\nTry $50 a month for starters.\n\nIf your company does not have a 401Kput money into a IRA.  Again, the money you put away is not taxed.  You can save up to $4000 annually.
60838
With $200 dollars a month, you might want to sign up for a 401k plan from an online brokerage firm while picking one or two mutual funds.  As long as you consistently deposit the amount of $200 dollars, you should realize a relatively fair or modest return.  It will also reduce your taxable income, saving you money on taxes and increasing your future retirement funds.  \n\nHowever, if you're looking for a higher return investment, allocate it to a money market ING Direct account.  I believe their offering 4.75%, which is a modest return but it offers you greater liquidity.  After a year, you might then swap it into a brokerage account and then invest it in growth stocks that can generate a higher return.
1101123
Check out this four funds.  Your Fidelity 401K plan might not offer some of these funds.  These funds are offer good return.\n\nFID MID CAP STOCK  \nFIDELITY LOW PR STK  \nFID INTL DISCOVERY  \nFID OVERSEAS
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Google is quite the useful tool.\n\nType in 401k self-employed and the information is limitless.\n\nI am surprised that more people do not use this function to find info.\n\nCheck this link:  explains some of the benefits that Solo 401k plans offer\n\nhttps://www.bcmadvisors.com/retirement_plans/solo-401k.htm
12817
It depends on how old you are.  Most retirement plans depend on the economic conditions at the time of retirement.  One person can take their 401k out this year and might get more money then the person taking it out the year after.  See, its all economics.  On top of the economics, its what you invest in.  When you put money in a 401k, you have experts putting it into mutual funds for you.  They take alot from you.  So, theoretically, you can buy your own stocks and make a heck of a lot more.  And instead of investing in them for 45 years, you can invest for 8 years and make the same amount or more.  This is true, however, you dont know what to invest in.  So, I suggest you start small and on something a bit more safe.  I will show you 2 or 3 of the best ways to do this.  I am a rare coin expert.  These ways are not fool proof because the economy goes up and down in a cycle of booms and busts.  But, they do cut out the risk because you only have 10 years left.  \nThe first method is through gold.  I suggest you buy the physical form and not stocks or anything of that nature.  You can buy the physical form and allow the sellers to store it for you.  Do not allow them to store it for you if they are just a small company.  I would rather take the physical gold with me.  There is a fee to take this gold with you though.  But, its better then not having it.  With gold, its always hovering at about $278 to about $315.  I would say that anything less then $290 is a good buy.  When you buy, they always tack on an additional couple of dollars because the gold was assayed into a gold bar for you.  When gold is high, they add like $4.  When it is low, they might add $7 dollars.  Dont worry about this.  Just pay for it.  I would rather buy bullion coins then the gold bars in the packages.  They cost $10 dollars above the gold value in the bar form.  Now, there are certain gold bullion coins that you should and shouldnt buy.  Its always best to go for the pure gold ones.  The reason being is, sometimes a jewelry store will take it in, but they will only pay for its content because they were going to melt it anyways.  And if it wasnt pure 24k, then they might have to take a couple dollars off to turn it into 18k or 14k, etc etc.  So, the purest ones are the Canadian gold coins, and the Chinese gold coins.  When gold goes down, you buy, when they go up, you sell.  Its that simple.  You cant lose because gold goes up and down all the time.  So, dont sell if you lose.  Just keep it there.  Whats the point of saving if you are going to dip into it?  So, over the course of 10 years, I know you can make a sizeable profit.  The question is large or small because you will not know when to buy and sell.  All you see is a profit when you sell, and you see a cheap price when you buy.  What you do is buy when its around $290 or less.  Sell, when it goes up.  And with the excess, you can buy more gold.  Just continue doing this.  I know for a fact that you can start off with $3000 dollars today and make at least 20 trades in the next 10 years and make no less then 100% of your investment back.  Gold is currently at $500 plus.  What if you bought it when it was $290 or less, which is what is preferred.  Thats over 200 per ounce.  So, in a year or two, do you see that you would have had over 5k?  You just have to wait till it goes down to around the 300 mark.  I mean, even if you buy for 290, and it goes up to 310 in 2 weeks, you can still sell and make 300 dollars.  That would add almost another ounce to your portfolio.  Continue to do this until you are about to retire.  During the last year, you will be waiting for the highest price you can find to sell.  Another thing to look into is instead of gold coins, you can buy grain gold.  They are just little balls of pure gold.  They are usually a couple dollars cheaper, but they are hard to obtain sometimes.  \nSecond way of investing is buying coins from the US mint.  They will be the cheapest price you pa
793313
Both 401K and 403B are vehicles for tax deffered saving plans.  403B are usually with not-for-profits organizations and are a little different but not by much.  These are money is not taxed until you take it out.\n\nIRA are Individual Retirement Accounts and the money that is put in has already been taxed.  \n\n401k and 403 b are from either your place of work.
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You can choose both! If your not too rich.\n\nIf your employer matches your contributions to the 401k...put in enough to get the match.....put the rest of your money in a Traditional IRA ($4,000) max.......you can put more money tax defered in the 401k but an IRA gives you more control over your money and allows you to choose how to invest it.\n\nNow many people will whine and complain that you should use a Roth IRA....I dont care what you do....but if you use a traditional IRA..you get a tax break now......\n\nFor Further reading on this..check our IRS publication 509.
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I just rolled over my 401K to an ING Direct IRA account. They have great options and low maintenance fees. Check them out.  www.ingdirect.com
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S&P is good however i would go 60-65% stock and 40% bonds and cash investments so as to diversify your account while still making you a good rate of return.  When you get to around 60 you want to move more toward bonds and other save investments.  Remember as long as you diversify you will be fine so put your money into some other funds.  If you dont have a finicail planner available with your 401k plan seek out one to help.  Also www.bobbrinker.com and bankrate.com are good sites to help with investing.
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You must avoid speculative (risky) investments like stocks.  You must stick to either bonds (which carry little or no risk) or mutual funds (which negate the effect of risk because they are invested in numerous types of stocks from many different corporations).  I would strongly advise a no-load mutual fund.  Also, before you do any of this, find out whether your employer matches any portion of your 401k.  If so, you must contribute to your 401k (at least to the point of the match, if possible). This allows you to invest without the effect of taxes until you withdraw (hopefully when you retire).
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Do things in the following order:\n\nMake sure you have an emergency fund that you can access equivalent to 3 months of expenses (not 3 months of income).\n\nPay off high-interest debt (if you have any).\n\nThen, if you have money that you won't need for a long time, you can take the following steps:\n\nIf your company offers a 401(k) with matching funds, participate in it up to the full matching amount (free money is good).  Put half into a total stock market index and half into an international index.\n\nFully fund your Roth IRA.  Use the same asset allocation as for your 401(k).\n\nIf that doesn't max out your savings, go back to the 401(k) and contribute up to the limit.
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The 401k is great if the employer provides some kind of match.  If you are looking to buy some government bonds, I would go with the I bond which currently has an interest rate of 6.73%\nCheck out http://www.treasurydirect.gov for more info.
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Annuities are investments. The portion of your withdrawal that represents your initial investment is withdrawn tax-free. All the earnings on your investment are taxed as ordinary income. This is summarized in IRS Tax Topic 410 (first link below), and more fully detailed in IRS Publication 575 (second link below).\n\nThere's no such thing as one-third is tax free, as another answer suggested.\n\nTo give an over-simplified example: let's say you invested $100,000 into an annuity. And now the annuity is worth $500,000. The original $100,000 is returned to you tax-free, and the remaining $400,000 is taxable income. Annuities are designed to provide you income for life, and so you will be spreading your tax-free withdrawals over the entire period of your withdrawals.\n\nSpending an hour or so with a CPA should help you plan your retirement so that you minimize your taxes.\n\nAll the best,\n\nWilliam Perez\ntaxes.about.com
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These people are so silly!  The best thing to do is open an investor account like at ScotTrade.  Put the money in a mutual fund that has a very low Expense Ratio (less than one...say 0.76%.  You can find this info at Morningstar.com...)  Buy into the mutual fund that you choose and even buy more shares with monthly payments into the account.\nYou would be shocked an amazed at what 25 dollars a week will do over thirty-five years.  In fact, if everything keeps going well with the mutual fund, you should be able to retire in 35 years, and that is not counting a 401 you have with a company or even your social security!\nGet to saving now!  Let your money work for you!
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Your 401k is the best method you have right now.  If you can afford it, max out your pre-tax contributions.  At your age, I would lean toward a more aggressive portfolio in the 401k.  As you get closer to retirement you can change the mix to be more conservative.\n\nBesides the 401k, if you want to save more for retirement, you could look at a Roth IRA.  You may or may not qualify for one depending on your circumstances.\n\nAnother vehicle would be an annuity.  You can get them either fixed, indexed, or variable.\n\nSeek out a financial professional.  He can evaluate your individual situation and help you plan.