BACKNEXT

When are individual 401(k)s a good deal?

These plans are ideal if you intend to sock away large sums. An individual 401(k) allows you to save for retirement both as an employer and an employee, often enabling you to contribute more than would be possible with other retirement plans.

Here's how: As an employee, you can stash away as much as $18,000. As the boss, you can contribute an additional 25% of compensation, up to a maximum of $53,000, including your employee contribution.

These contributions are discretionary, so you can save the maximum in flush years and nothing in tougher times. If you and your spouse are both in the plan and enjoy a banner year, you could save a total of $106,000. And if you are both 50 or older and eligible for catch-up contributions of $6,000 each, the total climbs to $118,000.

Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.