Creating Your Own Retirement Plan: Iras & Keoghs for the Self-Employed

This book has a distinct chapter for each type of retirement plan for the self-employed. It is written in a style that is very easy to understand compared to reading an IRS publication. The book also compares different scenarios so you can see what would be different. It gives examples such as if you are both self-employed and have a retirement plan through your full time day job, can you have a SEP and an IRA, can you have two SEPs, what if you have two self-employed businesses, and more. While the first chapter explains this book is not for the self-employed with employees, there is a short section in the chapters reminding you of a "heads-up" as to things that might be different if you have employees. I am not sure there is new information that would not be included in the IRS related publications but as I mentioned, this book may be something to read first as the language is more simplistic and ideas are explained using more than one sentence (which is often all you will find in the IRS publications). Of course, you will still have to get the current IRS publications since things change so quickly with retirement issues.

This and Twila Slesnick's earlier book "IRAs and Keoghs for the Self-Employed" are the only books that I've found that deal specifically with setting up a retirement plan for sole proprietors. Most books deal with them from the perspective of employees. I found the earlier book to be woefully out of date, because it doesn't address changes that make it easier for business owners to set up their own 401k plan. In this book, the authors do provide detailed information on 401k plans. In fact, the book devotes a chapter to each type of retirement plan for business. It also includes comparisons for each type of plan to make it easier to decide with one is best for you. This is highly recommended for sole proprietors that want to set up their own retirement plan. I found it particularly helpful in demystifying how 401k plans work. However, because the book was published in 2002, it doesn't address current changes in the law that will allow after tax contriburtions to a 401k plan. Hopefully, a new edition (or another book on the same subject) is forthcoming from Nolo Press.