Retirement accounts for dentists?

[pedstar09]

Hi all,
The wife just started full time practice as a general dentist working for another dentist. They do not offer any 401/403b. I guess her options would be to do just Roth/traditional IRA, then HSA and then spill over to 529? Any other options out there? The practice is not her own so solo 401k is not an option...

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[Saddleshoes]

1) "Back Door" Roth
2) Consider part-time work at place that does offer 401/403.
3) Consider starting own practice or other side hustle.

 

[AlternateSome1]

Is she a W-2 employee or a 1099 contractor? Contractors have more options.

 

[Baron Samedi]

Can she talk to the practice owner about starting a 401k? Even if there's no match, it's better than nothing and only benefits both the owner and their employees.

 

[TMP-SMX]

Can she talk to the practice owner about starting a 401k? Even if there's no match, it's better than nothing and only benefits both the owner and their employees.

Agree. This would be the best approach. It will save on taxes for everyone involved.

 

[dpmd]

Is she a W-2 employee or a 1099 contractor? Contractors have more options.

This is the key question. Too many people don't realize that if they have 1099 income then they are a small business with all the options available to those.

 

[heybrother]

-Plain old taxable brokerage
-Any business owner will know more about this than I will, but part of the purpose of the 401K match is to potentially safe harbor the plan from compliance testing. If a business has a 401k without a match it's potentially possible the IRS will reject some of the contributions ie. The doctors are making full contributions but the medical assistants are contributing nothing - this may not pass muster. This is why you often see the same variations of matching at all low to mid-level jobs (variations of 3-4% achieved through 3 pathways). These match structures are designed to meet safe harbor. That said, not having the plan does seem like a missed opportunity for variations of profit sharing and things like that.

 

[TMP-SMX]

My practice plan just moved to an opt out system where everyone contributes at least 3% by default and if the percentage isn't changed it automatically goes to 4% after a year.

 

[TheHungarianCPAPFS]

Cannot think of anything else other than those. If she can open her own corp, there would be more options. What about your side of the business. Have you thought about employing her just enough to max her 401(K)/PS and reducing your income from the business. If where you work would allow that.