In this episode of The Financially Mindful Podcast, entrepreneurs and small business owners get expert advice from TPA Valerie McClendon of FuturePlan on how you can become more conscious of your retirement plan options and how to maximize your benefits in compliance with IRS laws. Valerie offers new ways to think about options including SEPs, SIMPLEs, 401(k)s, Solo 401(k)s, and Defined Benefit Plans. If you are doing well as a small business owner or as a self-employed individual with 1099 income, review your current retirement plan and consider some of the more advanced strategies discussed in this episode of The Financially Mindful Podcast. 

 

Daniel James

Dan is Founder and CEO of CanopyLife, a platform committed to building families’ financial resilience to deal with major life events. Dan founded CanopyLife after experiencing the financial and emotional cost of losing his dad to cancer, and wanting to help families avoid the same pitfalls. A Kellogg School of Management grad, Dan previously led new product development at Capital One and has nearly a decade of experience working in product development at startups focused on consumer, fintech and insurtech. In a prior life, Dan was a consultant at BCG and worked in Equities for Goldman Sachs and ABNAMRO. 

 

James V. Grace

Jim Grace is the Director of Wealth Management at Silver Pine Capital in Medfield, Massachusetts. ​Jim has more than a decade of experience in the financial services industry, leading Silver Pine’s financial planning and broader wealth management service offering. He has worked for MetLife and has managed for First Niagara (LPL Financial) and United Northeast Financial Advisors (Infinex Investments). He is father to two children. 

 

About our Guest:

Valerie McClendon is a qualified plan design and IRS compliance expert with QBI Ascensus FuturePlan. FuturePlan is the largest third party administration provider, where Valerie works with employers to set up and administer 401(k), 403(b), Profit Sharing, Cash Balance, and Solo Defined Benefit plans in compliance with all IRS and Department of Labor rules and regulations. She has over 20 years experience in retirement plan consulting. 

 

Insight from this episode:

Tips to boost your retirement with details on different tiers of retirement plans and the benefit and drawbacks of each. 

Valerie’s recommendations for the best retirement options for a variety of scenarios. 

Strategies for weighing the costs of various retirement plans and how to maximize your cost efficiency. 

Tax savings strategies and the factors that impact what an employer needs to contribute to employees’ 401(k)s.

 

Quotes from the show:

“Knowledge is power, so understand what your options are because it’s not just about the tax deductions, it’s also about that retirement security… it’s important not to lose sight of contributing to that retirement part even as you think you’re investing in the business.” –Dan James The Financially Mindful Podcast Ep. #5 (11:35)

“As income grows, and as the business grows, you want to maximize what it is you’re doing for your own retirement as the business owner, but you also have these other considerations. So we need to take care of our employees-- what does that mean for you?” –Jim Grace The Financially Mindful Podcast Ep. #5 (16:25)

“So many employers just want to select a plan and don’t want to think about it, and they do not realize that their demographics [age and income of the employee base and employer] play a huge role in picking the right type of plan for them.” –Valerie McClendon The Financially Mindful Podcast Ep. #5 (20:43)

“There’s so many tools that the IRS gives us, and it’s having these conversations to get employers to realize what is available to them.” –Valerie McClendon The Financially Mindful Podcast Ep. #5 (25:43)

“SEPs and SIMPLEs are very straightforward. They don’t take that time [until retirement] into consideration. They don’t take the concept of compounding years until