Small businesses should check out ShareBuilder401k.com.

Most business owners have enough on their plate already. That’s why successful owners utilize other professionals to do the jobs that are not their core strength.

Would you complete and file your own taxes just to get a 25% discount on the tax preparer fee and still get no advice? Because that’s what your doing when you use a do-it-yourself companies vs. a professional advisor.

Why would a person go to a company like share builder (do-it-yourself site) and pay .75% or any other cost when you can get a full service advisor with a asset management fee 1% or less.

Of course, this does not even go into whether a 401k is the right option. Here is an example of a person who thought they could only get a 401k--Last year a client started a 401k (at Fidelity) but what he really needed was a combo plan (which included a 401k) that allowed him to put $250k (just for him/all tax-deductible) away a year instead of the limited amount in a 401k. Now even though this is a special case, it shows that big companies treat the client the same, and a trained advisor can point point out the correct plan.

The whole point is that even though it’s a great idea to do something for retirement, you may find that the Do-It-yourself service may cost your more than you think; either through choosing the wrong plan and losing out on a larger tax deduction or just by wasting time on it when you would be more productive in your own business.

Just do what makes sense, but if you hire an advisor, make sure they specialize in what you need, not just has the capability to do it.

My name is Aaron Smith a Retirement Plan Specialist and entrepreneur of smithadvisor.com and in addition, I am the president and founder of FusionAdvisor.com a technology platform for the wealth management industry for independent advisors and their clients.

 We set up a sharebuilder 401k plan this year for our 9 employees and we've been very happy.  And when you say it's a self serve type of deal, I'm not sure what you are talking about. Yes the investment options are somewhat limited to 14 ETF's but from what I see so are most other plans. The .75% fee is less than what fidelity or schwab are charging.  Also most businesses are not just setting up retirement plans just for the owners but for employees as well.   I needed to do this to get good employees not just stick money away for myself for 30 years until I can touch it.  I think there are few business owners that want/can stick 250k into a plan until retirement age vs. having the funds available before then. 

 Anyways you're desperate for clients trolling boards talking about a single owner/employee company sticking 250k into a defined benefits plan, yada yada.  While people with real companies and employees are setting up 401k plans at places like sharebuilder charging much much less than the big firms.  I believe Fidelity was 1% or more plus $500 month management fee for a 401k and sharebuilder is $95 month plus .75 fee on assets.

So like the first post I encourage you to check out http://www.sharebuilder401k.com  if you are a small business and want to set up a very inexpensive 401k for your employees.

The new platforms for 401k plans have really opened them up to very small businesses which is great. But, BE CAREFUL if you choose to work with a financial advisor! I am a former financial advisor and I saw a lot of "advisors" using high-fee, high-commission annuities inside the plans. The reason that they use annuities? They pay very high commissions because they are full of fees and surrender charges to the client.

Also, with the access you can have via internet now to your plan, beware of paying high front-end charges (4-5%) if you use a broker. Why do that when you can get one of the big no-load fund families to help you set up a good plan with good diversified choices for you and your staff.

There are good financial advisors out there but unfortunately they are in the minority in my opinion. Just be careful to watch those fees which erode your capital and diminish your long-term returns.

I too am a former advisor and what clicker says applies to all things, caveat emptor and do your homework.  My new book What to do with your 401(k) www.bridging2wealth.com discusses all weather investment allocations for 401(k)s since most advisors will not advise on them, since they don't get paid typically for that. 

It does not matter what you do for your retirement, you do need to do something for yourself.  The government is NOT going to take care of your retirement for you.  The traditional retirement model is DEAD.  That's why most of us are here at SN, we understand that the days of giving your life to a corporation and then they take care of you are numbered. 

I think Aaron was just sharing an opinion, everybody knows we startups don't have any money.....

Yes thanks daleyfla99.

For Jackso76 -you are talking about something very different than I am. Companies like Sharebuilder, Fidelity, and Schwab are do-it-yourself companies which is self explanitory. It seems to me that you did not know there is a 3rd advisor type called the Registered Investment Advisor [read the whole link to the left] (RIA)-. They are not brokers like at Morgan Stanley and do not get any compensation by annuitiy or other companies--the only fee they get is from you. The difference is that RIA's fee is for advice not service like at the companies you mentioned. But if you do not value advice then there is nothing I could say to sway you, but as an accountant (your profile says accountant), I can ask you is there a difference between your practice and what turbo tax does? Yes, there is, because there is you, and as a small business owner this should mean even more to you. (Oh, ya my plans use mostly http://www.dfaus.com/library/reprints/cnbc_msn/ funds, most with a cost lower than .25% and I have access to over 10,000 other funds and custom build every plan-big or small. Price, around $85 a month for recordkeeping (plans over 10 participants -lower otherwise) and 1% or less depending on plan size---now thats a value--plus, any additional costs from the funds are credited to you account..to mention a few perks) and if I were desparate as you put it then I would have put this in the last post, but since you appear to be a shill for sharebuilder I have no problem saying it now--good people always find each other in the end.

FYI: the first post from "pittmeans"; that person is from Sharebuilder---do you think they are deparate too?

For SteveWasiura , Keough's do not really exist anymore unless you already have them so I will not comment on that. But the Bush tax plan created EGTRRA which in turn created the Solo(k) plan and many other versions and plan types. Until now most CPA's told thier business owner clients to contribute to a SEP (or like a super IRA) (many still do). Which is simular to a profilt sharing plan whereas an employer can put upto 25% of thier compensation in the plan. The 401k on the other hand allows you to put you own w-2 income upto $20k AND do a 25% profit Sharing contribution for a total contribution upto (over 50 years of age) $50k. Also, the profit sharing allows you to give different % to different classes of employees like owners get 25%, office staff 10% and others get 5%. In addition, the 401k can be paired with other plans like the 412i or defined benefit plan for even higher contributions.

All of this plus advice is what you get from a good advisor. I look forward to answering your questions.

As an owner-owned small business (LLC), my wife and I are partners and were each able to shelter income by establishing a Sole Owner i.e. Individual 401K plan last year.  We established the 401K plan, and each of our 401K accounts, with Ameritrade, as we already had IRA's with them.  This was relatively easy to do -  with virtually no cost.

Next we moved our IRA's into each of the 401Ks, so we can borrow funds to invest in the business, while paying the loans back with interest from the business.

For any small business owner, this is a very good way to help keep you money in your own pocket.