QUESTION 1: I have a teacher client. She is self-employed with her real estate business and she is a w-2 wage earner as a teacher, both part-time. Can she open a self-directed 401K?
ANSWER: The rules permit contributions to multiple retirement plans including a 403b and a self-directed 401k.Yes she can open a self-directed 401k for investing in alternative investments such as real estate and private placements if (1) she is also self-employed through the real estate business and (2) real estate business generates earned income instead of passive income as only earned income qualifies.
QUESTION 2: I am assuming contributions to the account would be limited to % of money earned from self-employed business??? What if the accounts she wants to transfer were from companies that she used to work for as a w-2 wage earner. Please help us shed light on the subject so we can move forward.
ANSWER: Correct that in addition to only basing her annual self-directed 401k contributions on earned income generated from the self-employed business, she can also transfer her former employer plan funds to the new self-directed 401k. On another note, the only type of funds that may not be transferred to a self-directed 401k are Roth IRA funds which is a Roth IRA restriction not a 401k restriction.
