Self Employed Mortgage
Should you use your 401k to fund your startup?
In the early stages of starting a business most entrepreneurs, at least those who are doing it for the first time, are looking for any sources to fund their new startup. One source of funding (i.e. venture or seed capital) that a lot of entrepreneurs have access to is their 401k retirement account from a previous employer.
For example, there are a lot of startups created by entrepreneurs who used to work at Epic, the massive health IT Company based in Verona, WI. People work there for 5 years or so, making decent money and saving up in their 401k. When some leave to start a business they have a 401k account which can look appealing as a source of funding for their new venture. But “Should I use my 401k to fund my startup?” is the question anyone considering this source of funding should be asking first.
What is a 401k?
To answer the question about using your 401k to fund a startup you should first know what it is. According to the IRS, “A 401k is a feature of a qualified profit-sharing plan that allows employees to contribute a portion of their wages to individual accounts.” In other words, it is a retirement plan sponsored by your employer that allows you to save money out of your paycheck for your retirement.
Generally, the money you contribute is on a pre-tax basis, unless you are using a Roth 401k, thus anything you contribute is not included in your taxable income in the year you put it into your 401k. As your money hopefully grows it does so in a tax-deferred manner, thus you are not taxed on any of the money in the account until you take it out at some future date.
Distribution rules for a 401k
How do you take money out of your 401k and what happens when you do? According to the IRS, generally, distributions of elective deferrals cannot be made until one of the following occurs:
- You die, become disabled, or otherwise have a severance from employment.
- The plan terminates and no successor defined contribution plan is established or maintained by the employer.
- You reach age 59½ or incur a financial hardship.
How will you be taxed on your distribution? Regardless of the reason for withdrawing money from your 401k, you will be subject to income tax on any amount you withdraw. More importantly, if you don’t qualify for one of the IRS exceptions you may pay a 10% additional tax on your distribution.
The Cost of Withdrawing Money from your 401k
Here is a real-world example to show the implications of using your 401k as seed capital for your startup, hopefully, this should help you decide if using your 401k is the right choice.
Julie, a single 26-year-old, has been working at PlantetHealth IT Company for the last 4 years. She has learned a ton about the health tech industry and through working directly with the company’s customers has noticed a particular problem that is currently not being solved. With the help of one of her coworkers, they have developed a solution that they think the market is hungry for.
After speaking with their family and friends about their idea, she and her friend decide to go all in, quitting their stable jobs to start a company. They both have been able to save up some money in savings and plan on using it to get the company off the ground.
6 months into this new venture they have realized that it is going to cost more and take longer than they anticipated. So, they are now looking for other funding sources before asking their families and friends for seed capital. Julie managed to save up $35,000 in her 401k over the 4 years she was working, she rolled it to an IRA right after she quit her job. This money would be very helpful for the business so she decides to take the money out to help pay for startup costs.
This is what will happen if she withdraws the entire amount.
- The $35,000 will be taxed as ordinary income for the year she withdraws it, assuming a 15% federal tax rate and single filling status, she will pay ~$4,783.75 in federal income tax, plus an assumed state income tax of ~5% equaling $1,750.00.
- On top of this, since this distribution does not qualify for one of the IRS exceptions, she will pay an additional %10 tax on the amount withdrawn, thus paying an additional $3,500.00.
Julie will end up paying ~$10,033.75 in taxes to withdraw money from her 401k.
In other words, she will lose over 28%, almost a third, of her money to taxes. Now, some of this tax may be offset by business expenses she can deduct, but it will come down to her specific financial situation for the year. For your specific situation make sure to consult with a tax professional before withdrawing the money to get a clear idea of how you will be impacted.
Should I use my 401k to fund my startup?
So should you use your 401k to fund your startup? It depends! I think what is more important is that you are aware of what will happen should you decide to use your 401k as seed capital. There will be taxes and you will have less than you thought you did for your startup. Also don’t forget that this money will no longer be invested for retirement many years in the future.
If you are aware of the consequences and okay with the fact that you will lose a big chunk to taxes, then using your 401k to fund your startup may be a great way to take your business to the next level, or at least keep it going until you can raise more venture or seed capital.
Thank you for reading!
