When you work for yourself, nobody enrolls you in a retirement plan, nobody takes a contribution out of your pay, and nobody matches it. In one sense that's a real disadvantage: nothing happens unless you make it happen. In another, it's an opening. The accounts available to the self-employed are among the most generous in the tax code, and a freelancer who uses them well can put away more each year than most employees are allowed to.
This page is the map. It lays out the decisions in the order you'll actually face them, tells you which ones can wait, and points to the guide that covers each step in depth.
Step 1: Decide what you're saving before you pick an account
Most people start with the account — Solo 401(k) or SEP IRA? — because that's the question with the most jargon. It's the wrong place to begin. An account is a container. What matters first is how much goes into it, because until you know roughly what you can set aside in a year, you can't tell which container you need.
Think of your savings as a share of what you earn rather than a fixed monthly amount, because freelance income rarely arrives in equal pieces. How large that share should be depends on when you started, what you've already saved and when you'd like to stop working. How Much Should a Freelancer Save for Retirement? works through it by age, and explains why the advice given to employees tends to undershoot for someone who has no employer match.
Step 2: Start with an IRA if your target fits inside it
An individual retirement account is the easiest place to begin. You can open one online in a few minutes, it needs no business paperwork, and it works whether you freelance full time or on the side. For 2026, you can put up to $7,500 into IRAs, plus an extra $1,100 if you're 50 or older.
The choice inside the IRA is about when you pay tax. With a traditional IRA you may be able to deduct what you put in now and pay tax when you withdraw. With a Roth IRA you pay tax now, and qualified withdrawals later are tax-free. The Roth has income limits on who can contribute directly, so a very good year can push you past them — something to check before you contribute, not after.
If what you plan to save each year fits within the IRA limit, you may not need anything more complicated yet; many freelancers stay here for their first year or two.
Step 3: Move up when you outgrow the IRA
Once your savings target is bigger than an IRA allows, the accounts built for the self-employed come into play. They work differently enough that the choice matters.
A SEP IRA is the simple one. Only "employer" contributions go in, calculated as a share of your self-employment earnings, and the paperwork is light. It also has a forgiving deadline: you can set one up as late as the due date of your business tax return, including extensions, for the year you want it to cover. That makes it the natural choice if you only realize in the spring that last year went better than expected.
A Solo 401(k) is for a business owner with no employees other than a spouse, and you contribute to it in two roles. As the employee, you can defer up to $24,500 of your compensation in 2026, plus an $8,000 catch-up if you're 50 or older, with a larger catch-up at ages 60 through 63. As the employer, you can add up to 25% of compensation as defined by the plan, and the IRS applies a special calculation for the self-employed.
That two-role structure is the reason the Solo 401(k) usually wins for full-time freelancers with moderate income: the employee half isn't limited to a percentage of your profit, so you can reach a meaningful amount even in a middling year. As income rises, the gap between the two narrows. The paperwork is heavier, so start it well before you need it rather than in the final days of the year.
Before you open either, read SEP IRA vs Solo 401(k) vs Roth IRA, which puts the three side by side, and then The Solo 401(k) if that's where you're leaning.
Step 4: Build a system that survives uneven income
The account is only half the job. The other half is getting money into it when your income swings from a big invoice one month to nothing the next. A fixed monthly transfer is the approach most people try first, and it's the one that breaks: in a strong month it's too small, and in a lean month it's the payment you skip.
What tends to work instead is tying contributions to income as it arrives, so each payment you receive sends its share to retirement automatically, large or small. Saving for Retirement on Irregular Income sets up that system step by step, including what to do with an unusually good year.
What can wait
- Traditional or Roth inside a Solo 401(k). Many plans offer both. It's a worthwhile decision, but getting money in matters more than getting the mix perfect in year one.
- Moving an old employer 401(k). If you left a job with a plan, you can decide later whether to leave it, roll it into an IRA or fold it into a Solo 401(k). Nothing forces the decision now.
- Advanced strategies for high earners, such as plans designed to shelter very large amounts. They exist, but they only make sense once the basic accounts are full.
The mistakes that cost the most
The most expensive mistake is simply waiting — for a steadier year, a bigger client, more clarity. Years without contributions can't be made up later, because each year's limit applies only to that year. The second is confusing tax savings with retirement savings: the money you set aside for your quarterly taxes is not available for retirement, and the taxes guide explains how much of each payment belongs to the government before you decide what belongs to your future.
Your next step
If you've saved nothing so far, open an IRA this week and set up an automatic contribution, even a small one. If you already have one and you're hitting its limit, read the comparison and decide between a SEP IRA and a Solo 401(k) before the end of the year. Everything else on this page can follow from there.
