Temporary employee on W2 not eligible for participating in the company's 401k. What are my retirement savings options ?

[Guest RPurswani]

Hi,

I am currently working as a temporary employee with a company since March 2003 on W2 basis without benefits.

I am not eligible to participate in the company's 401K program, due to temporary employee status.

I would like to set aside pre tax retirement savings out of my 2003 year income.

How do i go about this ?

Please suggest a pre-tax retirement savings plan i could participate in and invest a maximum amount (IRA or Individual 401k or SEP or any other) ?

Thanks

Raj

[david rigby]

Try this publication from the IRS: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p590.pdf

It can be ordered by calling 1-800-TAX-FORM.

[Guest RPurswani]

Thanks Pax for the IRA information.

In my understanding, an IRA is a supplemental retirement savings plan and i could only contribute upto $ 3000/per annum.

Since my salary is in excess of 100k this year, without a primary retirement savings plan (where i could contibute atleast 12% of my gross salary), i would have to pay a huge amount in taxes.

Thus i'm looking for a primary plan which allows me to invest a greater amount (approx $ 15k)

Thanks

Raj