BREAKING: Edward Jones Exits Solo 401k Plans — What Owner K Clients Must Do Before IRS Deadline

In an official client notification letter dated June 29, 2026, Edward Jones announced it is exiting the Solo 401k plan document business. Effective December 31, 2026, Edward Jones will discontinue providing the plan document — and all document maintenance services — for its Owner K (Solo 401k) plans. If you are self-employed and sponsor an Owner K plan, or you are an Edward Jones financial advisor with clients who do, this announcement affects you directly — and the clock is already ticking on multiple deadlines.

Why Is Edward Jones Discontinuing Owner K Plan Documents?

According to the letter, the regulatory changes in the SECURE 2.0 Act expanded plan design options beyond what the Edward Jones Owner K prototype document permits. Rather than update its document, Edward Jones is exiting the plan document business and directing clients to a third-party provider. The IRS requires that all Solo 401k plans be amended for the SECURE 2.0 Act by December 31, 2026, and the Edward Jones service end date aligns with that deadline.

Critical Deadlines Every Owner K Client Must Know

Your Three Options as an Edward Jones Owner K Client

Option 1: Default to FuturePlan

Do nothing and your plan transitions to FuturePlan, the document provider Edward Jones has arranged. You will pay a $150 one-time SECURE 2.0 amendment fee in 2026 plus a $150 annual document maintenance fee starting in 2027 — and the restrictive brokerage prototype plan design is expected to remain fully in place.

Option 2: Upgrade to a Specialized Solo 401k Provider

Restate your plan onto a flexible plan document with My Solo 401k Financial — keeping your existing Edward Jones investment accounts in place while unlocking premium plan features like the Mega Backdoor Roth, participant loans, tax credits, and alternative investments.

Option 3: Terminate the Plan

You may terminate your Owner K plan — but note that IRS rules still require your plan document to be updated in connection with a termination, so a compliant restated document is needed either way.

Cost Comparison: FuturePlan vs. My Solo 401k Financial

Features, Not Just Fees: What the Default Plan Still Won’t Allow

The bigger issue is plan design. FuturePlan is expected to simply restate the existing restrictive Edward Jones brokerage prototype — meaning the same limitations remain in place. Compare the plan features side by side:

Deep Dive: The Mega Backdoor Roth Opportunity

The Mega Backdoor Roth strategy allows you to make voluntary after-tax contributions up to the overall annual IRS Section 415(c) limit (e.g., $72,000 for 2026) and then convert those funds to a Roth Solo 401k or Roth IRA — building tax-free retirement wealth far beyond standard contribution limits.

Deep Dive: Claim $1,500 in Tax Credits

Under the SECURE Act, solopreneurs can claim a federal tax credit of $500 per year for 3 consecutive years — $1,500 total — simply for adding automatic enrollment to their Solo 401k plan. The catch: your plan document must natively support an Eligible Automatic Contribution Arrangement (EACA) provision. Basic institutional prototypes like the Edward Jones and FuturePlan documents do not support EACA — while My Solo 401k Financial plan documents fully include it, making you eligible to claim these credits.

The Restatement Process: 5 Simple Steps

Step 1: Apply Online

Submit your current plan details and payment in minutes – click HERE to get started.

Step 2: Document Preparation

Our team drafts your custom SECURE 2.0-compliant restated plan documents within the same business day.

Step 3: Sign

Sign and finalize your newly restated plan adoption agreement.

Step 4: No Asset Transfers Required

Your Edward Jones investment accounts stay exactly where they are — consistent with the Edward Jones notice confirming advisory and custodial services continue uninterrupted.

Step 5: Ongoing Support

We handle ongoing tax reporting support (Form 5500-EZ and Form 1099-R — simply timely request) plus all future IRS-required amendments and restatements.

A Note for Edward Jones Financial Advisors

If your clients received this letter, the most important reassurance you can offer is this: transitioning the plan document does not require moving assets away from your firm. Advisory continuity is guaranteed by the original exit notice itself. Partnering with a specialized document provider allows you to protect the client relationship while delivering highly desired features — Mega Backdoor Roth, participant loans, and SECURE Act tax credits — that standard institutional prototypes cannot offer.

Every Way to Fund a Roth Solo 401k in 2026 (And the One Way You Can’t)

The Roth Solo 401k is consistently one of the most requested topics among new Solo 401k account holders. A plan gets established — often with accounts at Schwab or Fidelity — and immediately the principal question emerges: How do I actually get funds into the designated Roth account?

In this guide, we take an in-depth look at every path into the designated Roth account of a Solo 401k in 2026, the hidden strategy rules that determine which path works best, and the single transaction type prohibited by the IRS.

First, Understand the Solo 401k Account Structure

Before walking through each funding “door,” it helps to understand how a Solo 401k holds different money types. A Solo 401k is a retirement trust, and the self-employed business owner serves as trustee. With a plan from My Solo 401k Financial, each contribution type is tracked in its own sub-account — for example, a pre-tax account, a voluntary after-tax account, and a designated Roth account.

Unlike a brokerage prototype plan, we are not the custodian and do not have access to your funds. Instead, we help customers open accounts at the bank or brokerage of their choice — whether that’s Fidelity, Schwab, or elsewhere. If two participants (say, a husband and wife working in the same business) each want pre-tax and Mega Backdoor Roth capability, that one plan would have six separate accounts for the one solo 401k plan (Pre-tax, Roth and Voluntary After-tax for each spouse).

Door #1: Direct Roth Contributions

Roth Employee Contributions

The most familiar path is the Roth employee contribution, made from your earned self-employment compensation directly into the designated Roth account. The limit is 100% of your self-employment compensation, dollar for dollar, up to $24,500 for 2026 — or more if you’re age 50 or older.

These limits assume you didn’t make employee contributions to another plan, such as a day-job 401k. Reporting depends on how your business is taxed: if your business is taxed as an S-corporation or C-corporation, the Roth employee contribution is reported on your W-2. If your business is taxed as a sole proprietorship (including a single-member LLC taxed as a sole proprietorship) or a partnership, Roth employee contributions are not reported on your personal or business tax return — and no Form 1099-R is required.

Roth Employer Contributions

Historically, employer contributions were always pre-tax, but SECURE Act 2.0 now allows employer contributions to be designated as Roth contributions. In our experience, however, this option is virtually never used by our clients — because they already have the ability to make Mega Backdoor Roth contributions, which win on two fronts:

1. Lower income requirement. The employer contribution limit is a percentage of compensation — 20% of self-employment compensation for a sole proprietorship or partnership, or 25% of W-2 wages for an S-corp or C-corp. That means you need a multiple of your desired contribution in compensation to justify it. By contrast, voluntary after-tax contributions can be 100% of self-employment compensation, dollar for dollar, up to the overall limit — so you hit the ceiling with far less income.

2. Simpler tax reporting. A Roth employer contribution is tax-deductible on the employer’s return for the year the contribution is made but taxable to the employee for the year it’s deposited. The Mega Backdoor Roth is more streamlined: the after-tax contribution itself isn’t reportable on your personal or business return, and only the after-tax-to-Roth transfer is reported (via Form 1099-R — which we prepare for no additional charge for those who submit the required info in a timely fashion).

Door #2: In-Plan Conversions (Including the Mega Backdoor Roth)

The Mega Backdoor Roth Solo 401k

The Mega Backdoor Roth is one of the top use cases among our customers, and it’s the fastest way to reach the 2026 overall ceiling of $72,000. It’s a two-step process:

Step 1: Make voluntary after-tax contributions to a separate after-tax sub-account — up to 100% of your self-employment compensation, dollar for dollar, up to the overall limit.
Step 2: Convert those after-tax dollars to a Roth account, where they can be invested with tax-free growth potential.

With our plan, you have two destination options for converted after-tax funds:

Pre-Tax to Roth In-Plan Conversions

The other conversion strategy is to take pre-tax dollars already inside your Solo 401k — for example, funds previously rolled in from a former employer plan or a pre-tax IRA — and convert all or some of them to the Roth Solo 401k. Key features:

• No dollar limit on how much you can convert.
• No triggering event required.
• Taxable and reportable for the year of conversion, since funds move from pre-tax to Roth status.
• In-kind conversions allowed: if you’ve made a specific investment in the pre-tax account, you don’t have to liquidate to cash — the position can be transferred in kind to the Roth account.

Door #3: Rollovers Into the Solo 401k

The third door is transferring money from another retirement account into your Solo 401k. Under the rules, you can roll in funds from:

• A pre-tax IRA (and then you can process an in-plan taxable Pre-tax Solo 401k to Roth Solo 401k conversion)
• A pre-tax former employer plan (e.g., a 401k, 403b, or similar) (and then you can process an in-plan taxable Pre-tax Solo 401k to Roth Solo 401k conversion)
• Roth dollars in a former employer plan — for example, a Roth 401k at a previous job can roll directly into your Roth Solo 401k

The One Way You Can’t: Roth IRA to Solo 401k

Quick Reference: Every Path Into the Roth Solo 401k for 2026

Married Solopreneurs: How to Save $144K into Mega Backdoor Roth for 2026

If both spouses work in the same owner-only business, 2026 opens the door to one of the most powerful Roth savings strategies available to the self-employed. Using the Mega Backdoor Roth feature of a Solo 401k, each spouse can move up to $72,000 into Roth dollars — for a combined $144,000 of tax-advantaged retirement savings in a single year. This is roughly ten times what a person could contribute to a Roth IRA directly, and those dollars carry the same tax-free growth potential as any other Roth funds.

Below, we break down exactly how the $144,000 figure works, who qualifies, the two-step process behind each $72,000 contribution, and the deadlines you need to know.

How the $144,000 Adds Up

The $144,000 figure comes from two separate $72,000 contributions — one for each spouse. When a married couple both work in the same self-employed business, both participate in the same Solo 401k plan, and each has enough earned income to justify it, each spouse can independently make a $72,000 Mega Backdoor Roth contribution.

Who Qualifies: The Owner-Only Rule

The Solo 401k is reserved for owner-only businesses. Both spouses can work in and contribute to the plan, but neither spouse’s business can have any non-owner, non-spouse, full-time W-2 employees.

What Counts as a Full-Time W-2 Employee?

A full-time W-2 employee — the kind that would disqualify you — is someone who is:

Anatomy of the $72,000 Contribution

The Mega Backdoor Roth is a two-step process:

Step 1 — Make the Voluntary After-Tax Contribution

You first make a voluntary after-tax contribution to your Solo 401k. The voluntary after-tax limit is 100% of your self-employment compensation, dollar for dollar, up to the overall limit of $72,000 — assuming you make no other contributions to the Solo 401k (you skip the employee and employer contribution types and make a pure voluntary after-tax contribution).

Step 2 — Convert to Roth

You then transfer (convert) those voluntary after-tax dollars to a Roth Solo 401k or a Roth IRA. The funds can move into a separate Roth account opened under the name and EIN of the Solo 401k, or be transferred out of the plan to a Roth IRA. Either way, they then enjoy tax-free growth potential.

What Counts as Self-Employment Compensation?

Because the voluntary after-tax limit is 100% of self-employment compensation up to $72,000, the next question is: what exactly is self-employment compensation? It depends on how your business is taxed.

As long as that calculated amount is at least $72,000 for each spouse, the full Mega Backdoor Roth contribution is available to that spouse.

The Step-by-Step Procedure

1. Confirm Eligibility

Verify that you have an owner-only business and that both spouses report earned self-employment income.

2. Adopt a Solo 401k That Allows the Mega Backdoor Roth

Your plan documents must allow both steps — the voluntary after-tax contribution and the subsequent transfer to a Roth Solo 401k or Roth IRA. My Solo 401k Financial was the first Solo 401k provider to offer a plan supporting the Mega Backdoor Roth, and our documents allow it.

3. Open the Accounts

We are completely neutral on where accounts are opened — we don’t hold customer funds and don’t have access to the accounts — but we are hands-on in helping you open accounts at the bank or brokerage of your choice. Popular brokerage options include Fidelity and Schwab, and we’ve helped customers open accounts at hundreds of banks and credit unions nationwide.

4. Use Separate Accounts for Each Spouse

When both spouses participate, separate accounts are required for each. Each spouse needs their own voluntary after-tax account opened under the name and EIN of the Solo 401k for the benefit of that spouse.

5. Contribute, Then Convert

Each spouse contributes up to $72,000 to their voluntary after-tax account, then converts those dollars to a Roth Solo 401k or Roth IRA.

Is the Conversion Taxable?

There is no tax on the conversion of the after-tax principal. If no gains have accrued in the voluntary after-tax account at the time of conversion, the entire conversion is tax-free. If some gains have accrued before the funds are moved to the Roth account, only that small gains portion is taxable in the year of conversion.

Deadlines to Know

Beyond the Mega Backdoor Roth: More Reasons to Set Up a Solo 401k

The Mega Backdoor Roth is a leading reason solopreneurs open a Solo 401k with My Solo 401k Financial, but it’s far from the only one:

Additional Roth Options

Beyond the Mega Backdoor Roth, you can make other types of Roth contributions and perform Roth conversions — converting existing pre-tax Solo 401k dollars to Roth status.

Tax Credits

Our plan was the first offered by a Solo 401k provider to support the ability to claim tax credits under the SECURE Act — up to $1,500 total ($500 per year for three consecutive years). These credits are available not only to new plans but also to existing plans (for example, a basic plan at Fidelity or Schwab) that are upgraded to our plan to enable Mega Backdoor Roth and other features.

Alternative Investments

Our plan allows brokerage-type investments (stocks, bonds, mutual funds) plus true diversification into alternatives such as real estate, private placements, private stock, precious metals, and crypto.

Participant Loans

You can take a Solo 401k participant loan for any purpose — personal or business — without taxes or penalties, provided you stay within the loan terms: borrow up to 50% of the balance, not to exceed $50,000, properly documented. Interest is prime plus 1% (or a CD rate plus 2%), repaid in equal monthly or quarterly payments of principal and interest over a five-year term (longer if used to buy a primary residence). We prepare the required loan documents at no additional charge.

Compliance Support

We handle the Form 5500-EZ and 1099-R when needed, as long as we’re notified in a timely fashion. Note that a Form 5500-EZ isn’t required until the value of your Solo 401k (including any defined benefit plan) exceeds $250,000.

Does Fidelity Allow 401k Loans?

Short answer: Fidelity’s basic Solo 401k plan does not allow 401k participant loans.
But that doesn’t mean you’re stuck. If you already hold a basic Fidelity Solo 401k — or you’re
comparing your options before opening one — you can upgrade (“restate”) your plan documents to those
provided by My Solo 401k Financial and unlock participant loans, the
Mega Backdoor Roth, alternative investments, and SECURE Act tax credits —
all while keeping your account right where it is at Fidelity.

Below is the comparative blueprint: why Fidelity’s basic plan blocks loans, how a restatement resolves it, and the
exact process to fund and execute your Solo 401k participant loan.

First, Are You Eligible for a Solo 401k?

Before discussing loans, start with eligibility. A Solo 401k — also called a one-participant
plan or owner-only plan — comes down to two fundamental requirements:

1. Self-Employment Income

You must report earned self-employment income on your taxes. How you report it depends on your entity type:

2. No Full-Time Non-Owner, Non-Spouse W-2 Employees

You cannot have any non-owner, non-spouse, full-time W-2 employees working for any business owned by you or your
spouse. For this purpose, a full-time W-2 employee is one working 1,000 hours per year with a year of
service, or 500 hours per year for two consecutive years.

Why Fidelity’s Basic Plan Blocks 401k Loans

Being eligible lets you open a Solo 401k — but there are big differences between the basic plans
offered by discount brokerages like Fidelity and an individually designed Solo 401k offered by
My Solo 401k Financial. Fidelity’s basic prototype plan documents simply don’t allow many of the
advanced features.

The Fix: Restate Your Plan Documents

You’re not stuck with those basic Fidelity documents. The process to upgrade is called a restatement.
Importantly:

• You are not setting up a second plan.
• You are not shutting down your Fidelity plan and starting over.
• Your plan continues — now governed by My Solo 401k Financial’s IRS-approved documents.

Those upgraded documents enable Solo 401k loans, Mega Backdoor Roth contributions, alternative
investments, and the ability to claim SECURE Act tax credits. Want the deeper mechanics on after-tax dollars? See our
detailed guide on the
Mega Backdoor Roth using a Solo 401k plan.

How the Process Works

1. Replace the documents. We prepare your restated documents to upgrade your plan within the same business day when you sign up.
2. Open new accounts. You’ll open new accounts — which can stay at Fidelity. These are called non-prototype or investment-only accounts, used by Fidelity for people who bring their own plan documents. We help you open them as part of onboarding.
3. Transfer cash and assets. Move the cash and assets from your existing basic plan into the new accounts governed by the upgraded documents. Assets can transfer in kind — you don’t have to sell your investments.

Solo 401k Loan Rules at a Glance

A Solo 401k loan lets the solopreneur access money in their Solo 401k — for any purpose —
without taxes or penalties, as long as the loan stays within the required terms and is paid back on schedule. We prepare
all the required loan documents.

Hassle-Free Document Preparation

When you let us know you want to take a loan, we prepare the amortization schedule and all required loan documents —
in one business day. You then repay according to the schedule, with the option to prepay early
with no penalty, back into the same account from which the funds were withdrawn.

Flat Fees and SECURE Act Tax Credits

My Solo 401k Financial charges a flat fee regardless of your account value: $650 initial cost
(a $525 establishment fee plus the first $125 annual fee), then a $125 annual fee starting twelve months
later. That covers ongoing support — including preparing required loan documents and electronic Form 5500-EZ filing
for clients who notify us in a timely fashion.

We were the first provider to offer a Solo 401k plan enabling Mega Backdoor Roth contributions, and the
first to enable solopreneurs to claim tax credits under the SECURE Act: $500 per year for three
consecutive years ($1,500 total). Because it’s a tax credit — a dollar-for-dollar reduction in tax
liability, not just a deduction — it more than covers our fees for the first seven years.

2026 Solo 401k Contribution Limits by Age

If you are a high-income business owner or solopreneur, the Solo 401k offers the highest contribution limits of any defined contribution plan available to the self-employed. The reason is simple: in the words of the IRS, you are both the employee and the employer, which gives you access to multiple contribution buckets and total control over how much you set aside.

Below is a complete breakdown of the 2026 Solo 401k contribution limits by age, including employee deferrals, employer contributions, catch-up and super catch-up contributions, the overall limit, and how the Mega Backdoor Roth strategy unlocks far more Roth savings than a standard Roth IRA.

The Three Contribution Buckets

An advanced Solo 401k plan — like the one offered by My Solo 401k Financial — gives you three ways to contribute:

1. Employee Contributions

Also called salary deferrals, these can be made pre-tax or Roth and are subject to the annual employee deferral limit (plus catch-up contributions if you are age 50+).

2. Employer (Profit-Sharing) Contributions

Because you are also the employer, you control these contributions — unlike a 401k at a day job, where employer contributions are typically discretionary.

3. Voluntary After-Tax Contributions

This third bucket is the foundation of the Mega Backdoor Roth strategy. You first make a voluntary after-tax contribution, then transfer those dollars to a Roth Solo 401k or a Roth IRA.

2026 Solo 401k Contribution Limits by Age

The table below shows how the 2026 Solo 401k contribution limits change with age. Catch-up and super catch-up contributions are above and beyond the overall §415(c) annual additions limit.

Figures assume sufficient self-employment compensation to justify the contributions. The overall limit reflects the §415(c) annual additions limit plus applicable catch-up contributions.

Under Age 50

For 2026, the employee deferral limit is $24,500, and the overall §415(c) annual additions limit (employee + employer + voluntary after-tax) is $72,000.

Age 50 and Older (But Not 60–63)

Once you reach age 50, you can make an additional $8,000 catch-up contribution. This is a type of employee contribution, made directly to either the pre-tax or the Roth account. That brings the employee limit to $32,500 and the overall total to $80,000.

Age 60 to 63 — The Super Catch-Up

Thanks to the SECURE Act 2.0, individuals who are age 60 to 63 as of the end of 2026 can make a larger super catch-up contribution of $11,250 instead of $8,000. This raises the employee limit to $35,750 and the overall total to $83,250.

Mega Backdoor Roth: Supersize Your Roth Savings

The voluntary after-tax limit is dramatically higher than standard Roth limits. For 2026, a solopreneur with a plan that allows voluntary after-tax contributions can contribute 100% of self-employment compensation up to $72,000 as a voluntary after-tax contribution, then transfer those dollars to a Roth Solo 401k or a Roth IRA. That is almost ten times the $7,500 Roth IRA limit for 2026.

This two-step process — voluntary after-tax contribution followed by a transfer to a Roth account — is the Mega Backdoor Roth strategy. If you are age 50+ and want your catch-up dollars to be Roth, note that those go directly to the Roth account rather than through the after-tax bucket.

Day Job 401k + Solo 401k Side Hustle: How the Limits Interact

Many people have a day job 401k and a Solo 401k for a side business. Here is the general rule:

Employee Contributions Aggregate Per Person

The employee deferral limit (including catch-up contributions) applies at the person level. If you max out employee contributions at your day job, you cannot make additional employee contributions to your Solo 401k.

Employer & Voluntary After-Tax Apply Per Plan

Even if you’ve maxed out employee deferrals at day job 401k plan, you can still make employer and voluntary after-tax contributions to your Solo 401k. The $72,000 overall limit applies at the plan level and is not reduced by contributions to a day job 401k.