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Quick summary
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Nearly half of Americans say they might not save for retirement at all without a workplace plan, indicating the extent to which structure and payroll deductions drive this habit.
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For self-employed individuals who don’t have this built-in system, opening a self-directed IRA or Solo 401(k) can help re-establish the discipline and tax advantages of an employer plan.
For millions of workers, saving for retirement starts not with a financial advisor but with human resources paperwork.
A survey released last month by the Investment Company Institute found that 47% of people with a 401(k) or similar plan said they might not save for retirement at all if they didn’t have access to the plan while working. The same survey cited automatic payroll deductions, built-in tax deductions and default investment options as reasons.
For many families, a workplace plan is the only plan available.
If you have an employer that offers a 401(k), that’s encouraging. But for freelancers, contractors and small business owners, it points to a harsher reality: If workplace schemes are going to save most people money, self-employed people often have to create the structure themselves.
The ICI report makes clear how central employment-based schemes have become. Among workers with 401(k) or similar accounts:
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92% said payroll deductions make saving easier.
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91% said their employer’s plan helps them think about long-term goals, not just immediate needs.
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82% said knowing they were saving money with every paycheck made them less worried about short-term market fluctuations.
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47% agreed that they “probably wouldn’t save for retirement” if they didn’t have a job plan.
The numbers are even bleaker for low-income households, with more than half saying they wouldn’t save without an employer plan.
If you’re self-employed or run a small business, there’s no HR team rushing you to create a plan, no automatic payroll deductions, and no matching employer to remind you that you can consider retirement savings.
But the basic ingredients are still there. You just need to build the structure yourself.
This is where self-directed retirement accounts come in. Instead of a one-size-fits-all 401(k) offered by your employer, you can set up an IRA or Solo 401(k) that you control, and then decide how aggressively you want your contributions to go and what you want to invest.
For those who don’t have a traditional workplace plan but still want the discipline and tax benefits, IRA Financial specializes in self-directed IRAs and Solo 401(k)s, allowing account holders to go beyond the standard menu of stocks and bonds and allocate to alternatives such as real estate, private equity, cryptocurrency, gold, and more.
