If you're self-employed, chances are good you don't have a retirement plan. Not because you don't want one — because between invoicing clients, paying quarterly taxes, and actually doing the work that pays the bills, "open an IRA" keeps sliding to the bottom of the list. The numbers back this up: 53% of self-employed workers say they have no retirement plan at all, compared to just 19% of traditional employees. Add in the country's roughly 41 million workers who lack access to any employer-sponsored plan, and you're looking at one of the widest gaps in American personal finance.
The federal government just launched an attempt to close it. In April 2026, the White House signed an executive order establishing TrumpIRA.gov, a federally curated marketplace of low-cost IRAs paired with a matching-contribution program aimed squarely at independent contractors, gig workers, and small business owners who've never had access to a 401(k). The site is required to be live by January 1, 2027, but the policy details are already public — and if you run your own business, they're worth understanding now, before the marketing noise starts.
What TrumpIRA.gov Actually Is
Strip away the branding and the order does three concrete things:
- Creates a Treasury-run comparison site. TrumpIRA.gov will list IRAs from participating financial institutions, and it will let workers filter and compare them by cost, investment options, and quality — similar in spirit to how healthcare.gov lets you compare insurance plans.
- Sets minimum standards for what gets listed. Any IRA provider that wants a spot on the site has to offer diversified, index-based investment options, cap its net expense ratio at 0.15% of the account balance, and skip minimum-contribution or minimum-balance requirements. That expense-ratio cap matters — a lot of retail IRA products run well above that, quietly eating returns over a 30-year horizon.
- Connects savers to the Federal Saver's Match. This is the part with real money attached. Eligible savers can receive a federal matching contribution — up to $1,000 a year, structured as a 50% match on the first $2,000 contributed — deposited directly into their retirement account. The match is means-tested and phases out at higher incomes, so it's targeted at low- and moderate-income savers rather than everyone.
The order also directs Treasury to draft legislative recommendations to make the framework permanent, which is a signal this isn't meant to be a one-administration initiative.
Why This Exists: The Coverage Gap Is Real
The executive order isn't solving an imaginary problem. According to the accompanying White House fact sheet, roughly 41 million working-age Americans lack access to an employer-sponsored retirement plan, and another 49 million full-time workers who do have a plan get no employer match on their contributions. Break that down by employment type and the gap gets starker:
- Self-employed workers: 53% report having no retirement plan
- Part-time workers: nearly 80% lack access to any plan at work
- Low-income full-time workers (under roughly $27,400/year): 78.7% lack access, versus 18.2% for the highest earners
If you're a freelancer, a solo consultant, or you run a business with a handful of employees and no formal benefits package, you're the exact population this program is trying to reach — not because you're irresponsible with money, but because nobody ever set up payroll deductions for you.
The projected payoff, per the White House's own modeling, is a 25-year-old lower-income worker who contributes about $165 a month and, with the Saver's Match compounding alongside their own contributions at an assumed 6% annual return, ends up with roughly $465,000 by age 65 — nearly a third of which comes from the match itself. That's a rough, best-case illustration, not a guarantee, but it does show why a matched contribution in your 20s and 30s is worth so much more than the same dollar amount contributed at 55.
What This Means If You're Self-Employed
Here's the part that matters practically: TrumpIRA.gov doesn't replace the retirement accounts you can already open today. A Traditional or Roth IRA, a SEP-IRA, or a Solo 401(k) are all available right now, with or without a government comparison website. What TrumpIRA.gov adds is:
- A vetted shortlist. Instead of comparing IRA fee schedules across a dozen brokerages yourself, you'll have a pre-screened list of providers that meet the 0.15% expense-ratio cap.
- Free money you're not otherwise eligible for. The Saver's Match is new federal money layered on top of whatever account you choose — it's not something a SEP-IRA or Solo 401(k) offers on its own.
- A lower bar to start. No minimum contribution or balance requirement means you can open an account and contribute what you can, when you can, without hitting an account-minimum wall that keeps a lot of people from starting at all.
If you already max out a Solo 401(k) or SEP-IRA because your business is profitable enough to shelter significant income, this program isn't really for you — those accounts let you contribute far more than the $2,000 threshold that triggers the Saver's Match. But if you're earlier in your business, inconsistent income makes a Solo 401(k) feel like overkill, or you simply haven't gotten around to opening anything yet, this is designed to be the on-ramp.
One caveat worth flagging: the Saver's Match program itself, under the broader SECURE 2.0 framework, is scheduled to begin for tax years starting after December 31, 2026 — which lines up with the January 1, 2027 launch date for the website itself. So don't expect to log on tomorrow and start collecting a match; the infrastructure is being built now for a 2027 start.
The Bookkeeping Side Nobody Talks About
Retirement contributions for the self-employed aren't just a "set it and forget it" decision — they're a bookkeeping decision. A SEP-IRA contribution is calculated as a percentage of net self-employment income, which means you need accurate, current books to know how much you're even allowed to contribute. Contribute based on a guess, and you risk either leaving money on the table or over-contributing and triggering an excess-contribution penalty you'll have to unwind with the IRS.
This is where a lot of self-employed people get tripped up: their "books" are a mix of a business checking account, a personal card used for supplies, and a shoebox of receipts. When it's time to calculate a retirement contribution — or file taxes, or apply for a loan — nobody can say with confidence what net income actually was for the year.
Keeping clean, current records solves this before it becomes a problem. If your bookkeeping accurately separates business income and expenses in real time, calculating your maximum SEP-IRA or Solo 401(k) contribution — or figuring out whether a $2,000 IRA contribution to capture the Saver's Match makes sense given your cash flow — becomes a five-minute lookup instead of a year-end scramble.
What to Watch For Between Now and 2027
A few things to track as this rolls out:
- Which providers get listed. The 0.15% expense-ratio cap and no-minimum rule will determine who shows up on the site. Watch for major low-cost index-fund providers (the usual names in the low-fee IRA space) to apply for inclusion once Treasury opens the process.
- Final income limits for the Saver's Match. The match phases out at higher incomes under the existing SECURE 2.0 framework, but Treasury and Labor still need to issue implementing regulations. If you're near the edge of eligibility, it's worth checking the finalized thresholds before assuming you'll qualify.
- State auto-IRA programs. Several states already run their own auto-enrollment IRA programs for workers without employer plans. How TrumpIRA.gov interacts with those existing state programs — whether they overlap, compete, or complement — hasn't been detailed yet.
- Legislative codification. The executive order directs Treasury to propose legislation making this permanent. An executive order can be reversed by a future administration; a law generally can't be undone as easily. Whether Congress acts is worth watching if you're planning around this long-term.
None of this requires you to do anything today except keep an eye on the January 2027 launch date. But if you've been putting off opening any retirement account because the options felt overwhelming or the fees felt opaque, a curated, capped-fee comparison site with a built-in matching incentive is about as close as it gets to a nudge from the federal government to just start.
Keep Your Books Ready for the Contribution You'll Want to Make
Whether you end up opening an account through TrumpIRA.gov, a SEP-IRA, or a Solo 401(k), the contribution you're allowed to make is only ever as accurate as your books. Beancount.io gives self-employed workers and small business owners plain-text accounting that's transparent, version-controlled, and easy to audit — so when it's time to calculate a retirement contribution or file your taxes, the numbers are already right there. Get started for free and see why developers and finance professionals are switching to plain-text accounting.