Offering 401(k) plan to your employees isn’t just a nice perk—it’s essential for attracting the high caliber talent that keeps your business competitive. Access to retirement plans is one of the biggest hurdles in the U.S. workplace, and those who do have access to retirement saving options are 15 times more likely to utilize them. When the savings are automatic, people are five times more likely to participate in a retirement plan.
It’s no surprise that more and more small businesses are offering their employees retirement savings plans. After all, four in five employees say they prefer benefits and perks to a pay raise—and a 401(k) is at the top of the list of requested benefits.
The trouble is, retirement savings plans can be tricky to understand, especially if it’s new to a small business owner. To help mitigate the confusion, we’ve created a Quick Guide to 401(k) for Small Business Owners. The guide is broken down into three distinct sections:
We’re certain this free tool will serve as a helpful resource for setting up a 401k for small businesses.
The FAQ section of our guide to 401(k) for small business owners is compiled of eight questions—the first and most important being: What is a 401(k)?
While you need to download the guide for the answers to each of the questions, we’re going to go ahead and give you the answer to the first. We recommend every business owner have a firm basic understanding of 401(k) plans before the search begins in earnest.
A 401(k) is a company-sponsored retirement savings plan reserved for pre-tax dollars contributed by employee and/ or employer. Employers regularly participate in programs as employee contribution matching is considered a tax deduction for the business.
The other seven questions and answers were crafted with consideration of our past experiences helping small business owners set up plan options for their employees. Of course, if there is a question that hasn’t been asked and answered, a VensureHR 401(k) specialist will be happy to help.
If you’ve been wondering, “Is there more than one type of 401(k) plan to choose from?” The answer is: Yes. The four main plans that we’ve included in our guide are:
While each of these ultimately serve the same purpose, they are all very different in structure. In this section we lay out if each is contributed pre-tax dollars or after-tax dollars, how it affects your taxes, and how much you’re able to contribute, among other things.
The final page of our guide to 401(k) for small business owners is a checklist that maps out each step in the selection process that we believe is of the utmost importance during your search. The list has nine different “checkpoints” for you to use as a resource, assuring that you’re selecting and providing the appropriate plans for your employees.
The checklist includes everything from actually determining the type of 401(k) plan best suits your business to choosing a vendor to set-up, and administer the benefits. Being that this may be your first time setting your company up with 401(k) plans, we highly recommend using this checklist—things can get tricky.
We packed our guide with loads of information that can be of great use to you and your business. However, we know that this is a long and confusing process, and you may have more questions than what’s already being provided.
Fortunately for you, VensureHR recognizes that you aren’t a savant when it comes to 401(k), so we make ourselves available to you whenever we’re needed. As leaders in the PEO industry, we are experts when it comes to 401(k)—we even provide all of our clients with a multiple employer 401(k) plan through a strategic partnership with Slavic 401k. The savings plans allow employees to save for retirement while reducing their current taxable income.
We know all that’s needed to know about 401(k) and we can’t wait to help you provide your employees with the benefits they want and need.
