Money Notes for Self-Employed Parents
Money math for parents who work for themselves: retirement plans with real contribution logs, benefits decisions with actual prices, the new Trump Account, and the calculators that run the numbers. Every post uses our real figures, rounded to comfort.
Trump Account Calculator The $1,000 seed by 18, 21, and 30 Solo 401(k) Calculator Your max contribution vs the SEP IRA 529 Calculator Monthly saving by college
Money Notes Solo 401(k) vs SEP IRA: Why I Picked the Complicated One A solopreneur's real Solo 401(k) vs SEP IRA comparison with 2026 limits and S-corp math: roughly double the shelter at $100k of income, the Roth option a SEP can't match, and the provider transition nobody puts in the chart. Read the note 
Self-Employed Health Insurance: Take the Spouse's Plan (Mostly)A solo parent's real benefits math: about $200 a person on a spouse's plan versus $500+ on the marketplace, a 30-year term life policy for $57 a month, and the dependent care FSA that quietly matters more than all of it.
Trump Account Statistics: Enrollment, Claim Rates, and the $1,000 GapEvery meaningful Trump Account number in one place, each with its source: how many accounts exist, how many kids are being auto-enrolled, what the $1,000 seed costs, and the claim-rate gap. Updated monthly.
Trump Account vs UTMA vs Custodial Roth: Which First Account for Your Kid?Three ways to invest for a child, compared honestly: the new Trump Account, the old UTMA custodial account, and a custodial Roth IRA. Who controls the money, when the kid gets it, the tax bill, and the order we'd fund them.
The $5,000-at-17 Trump Account Move, and the Tax Catch Everyone MissesParents of teenagers are front-loading $5,000 into a Trump Account and converting it to a Roth IRA at 18. The move is real - but the viral version ignores the kiddie tax, and that's where it gets expensive.
What Happens to a Trump Account at 18: The IRA Default, the Roth Election, and the Rules AfterThe lock ends the year your child turns 18, but the account doesn't hand over cash - it becomes an IRA. How the automatic Traditional conversion works, the Roth election, withdrawal rules, and what your kid actually controls.
Is That Trump Account Email Real? How to Spot the FakesTreasury activation emails are landing in parents' inboxes, and phishers are riding the wave. A former Gmail anti-phishing engineer's plain-English guide to telling the real ones from the fakes, and what to do when a fake finds you.
The Self-Employed Parent's Money Checklist for a New BabyNo employer, no HR packet, no benefits desk. This is the money checklist we ran for ourselves with a new baby and a small business - runway, credits, the free $1,000, insurance, and autopilot.
Trump Account vs 529: Which One Gets Your First $25One baby, two accounts, and only so much money each month. An honest comparison of the new Trump Account and the 529 - what each is for, who controls the money, and the order we're funding them.
529 Plans for New Parents: A Plain-English GuideThe 529 gets mentioned at every baby shower, but nobody stops to explain it. How these accounts actually work for families - who controls the money, what it covers, the scholarship escape hatches, and how it fits with the new Trump Account.
How to Claim Your Baby's Trump Account (and the Free $1,000)The Treasury just auto-opened savings accounts for tens of millions of kids, and most parents haven't claimed theirs. A plain-English walkthrough - eligibility, the activation steps, and the scams to avoid.
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