
Most people, especially business owners, think of a 401(k) as a basic retirement benefit. A place to stash some money for later years. Something you get once you have "enough" employees. But as 401(k) specialist Matt Rutenberg explains, that traditional view is wildly outdated. Today’s 401(k) rules allow far more flexibility, far bigger tax advantages, and far more wealth-building potential than most business owners ever realize.
Matt joins the show (two Matts, yay!) to walk through how modern 401(k)s actually work, and why almost everything you assume about them is inaccurate. He explains how plan design shapes how much you really get to save, how small business owners and even solopreneurs can legally contribute far more than they think, and how strategic layers like profit sharing, cash-balance plans, and self-directed investing change the game entirely. This episode was an eye-opener!
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“Help me reshift or rethink about what 401Ks mean to the individual, and entrepreneurship doesn’t just mean someone that owns a company with 150 employees. Business owners have a huge advantage in terms of what’s available to them and for tools, like tax tools, right? And so if you’re a solopreneur or you’re an independent contractor or you have a side hustle…you have something available, which is the 401K, because you are self-employed.”
“A lot of people think that $23,500 is the maximum you can put into a 401K. And the reality is, once you’re a business owner, you have this self‑employed income—you don’t need an entity, you just need to have self‑employed income. As long as you’re showing that income, you can unlock this 401K. But once you do that, now we’re talking $70,000 of contributions you can put into a 401K. And even on top of that…multiple six‑digit contributions that you can get into these things.”
“In reality, it’s a tax strategy. It just has to be looked at that way. And when you do that, it just unfolds more opportunity to help scale your business or to buy more franchises or whatever it is—buy real estate, things like that. It’s just knowing how to do that and finding the tools to do it that way.”
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Guest Links:
Youtube: (3) Matt Ruttenberg - Financial Entrepreneur - YouTube
Website: Contact | Life, Inc Retirement Services
Linkedin: Matt Ruttenberg | LinkedIn
Instagram: Matt Ruttenberg (@matt_ruttenberg) • Instagram photos and videos
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