I searched the forum and only found one thread with information related to business 401k plans...and it was from 2008, so figured I'd go ahead and post this.

I'm looking for advice from others that have setup a 401k plan for their business. Those of you that have setup a Solo 401k as a poker player might also have some advice for me too.

For the last few years we've been doing a SIMPLE IRA for employees, but I'd like to switch to a 401k for a few key reasons:

• Higher maximum contribution
• More flexibility in how I setup the match for employees, including the ability to match more than 3%
• Ability to do a Roth 401k?

A few background details on the company that are relevant probably:

• We have 14 full time employees, all but 1 participate in the SIMPLE IRA for at least the 3% that is matched 100%
• 4 of the employees would be considered highly compensated under virtually any benefit play, due to each having > 10% ownership.
• At least 3 of the employees intend to contribute to the maximum allowed and they currently do so under the SIMPLE IRA.
• Most of the employees just do the 3% match, so the overall contribution volume is very heavily weighted to the highly compensated employees. The highly compensated employees do not get any special treatment as far as the match, and this wouldn't change under a 401k, so I think I'm okay as far as discrimination rules.
• Our SIMPLE IRA administrator is TD Ameritrade. Many of the employees have rolled all their other accounts over to TDA too.

So I'm just looking for general advice, particularly on recommendations for a plan manager. I'd like to avoid insane setup or admin fees and would prefer to get to continue using Ameritrade if that is an option. I'm also particularly interested if there's any input related to Roth 401k's, since I think that is better for the majority of the individuals participating based on age.

Kahntrutahn, you were the one that had that thread from 2008 that I saw, so I'm particularly hoping you chime in with your experience.

Thanks in advance!

Does TDAInstitutional offer this directly? Or, do they require you to go through a TPA?

If not, you should be able to just draft a document prototype that is IRS approved ( http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/publications/401kplans.html ) and open up a trust account via TD?

Also, this may help: http://www.401khelpcenter.com/pdf/Solok_Vendor_List.pdf

We just went through this exercise. Schwab has an excellent site.

There are also other firms that will handle all of the 401k stuff and manage investments. Ultimately, our firm chose that route as people were not investing appropriately (ie., all aggro stocks, all money mkt). The firm that they chose was http://www.ifa.com/

Personally, I would have chose Schwab as they offer more choices.