How do real estate agents save for retirement without a 401(k)?

Both plans let you contribute as the employer, because the IRS treats a sole proprietor as its own employer for retirement plan purposes (IRS Publication 560, April 2026). For yourself, that employer share works out to 20% of your net earnings from self-employment, meaning your Schedule C profit minus the deduction for half your self-employment tax (IRS Publication 560, April 2026).

A solo 401(k), which the IRS calls a one-participant 401(k), covers a business owner with no employees, or the owner and a spouse (IRS, April 2026). On top of the employer share you can defer up to US$24,500 as the employee for 2026, plus US$8,000 more at 50 or older, or US$11,250 more at ages 60 to 63, and total contributions other than catch-ups stop at US$72,000 (IRS, November 2025).

A SEP takes no salary deferrals and no catch-up contributions (IRS, June 2026), so at each profit level in the table a solo 401(k) can take more.

Timing differs too. You can set up and fund a SEP for a year as late as your return's due date, including extensions (IRS Publication 560, April 2026). In a solo 401(k), your own deferrals must be elected by the end of the year and can then be paid in by the filing deadline, including extensions (IRS Publication 560, April 2026).

You can contribute to a traditional or Roth IRA even while you take part in a SEP (IRS, November 2025). The 2026 limit is US$7,500, or US$8,600 at 50 or older (IRS Publication 590-A, April 2026), and it is one limit shared across all your traditional and Roth IRAs (IRS, August 2026).

You can't deduct a Roth IRA contribution, and qualified distributions are tax-free (IRS, August 2026). For 2026 the amount you can put in phases out between US$153,000 and US$168,000 of modified adjusted gross income for a single filer, and between US$242,000 and US$252,000 for a married couple filing jointly (IRS, November 2025).

A traditional IRA contribution can be deductible, but as a participant in a SEP you are covered by an employer retirement plan, so that deduction may be reduced or eliminated (IRS Form 5305-SEP, December 2004; IRS SEP FAQs, August 2026). For 2026, a single filer covered by a retirement plan at work loses the deduction between US$81,000 and US$91,000 of modified adjusted gross income (IRS, November 2025).

A SEP IRA is a traditional IRA (IRS SEP FAQs, August 2026), and distributions from a traditional IRA are generally taxed in the year you receive them (IRS Publication 590-B, April 2026). So the deduction you take now delays the tax rather than canceling it, and the taxes page shows what it does to this year's bill.

Your RRSP deduction limit for 2026 is 18% of your 2025 earned income, up to C$33,810, plus any unused room from earlier years, less any pension adjustment (CRA, January 2026 and December 2025). Self-employment earnings count as earned income (CRA, September 2026).

The deduction comes now, and you generally pay tax when you cash in or withdraw from the plan (CRA, January 2026).

A TFSA adds C$7,000 of room for 2026, plus unused room from earlier years and whatever you withdrew in 2025 (CRA, February 2026). Contributions aren't deductible, but income earned in the account is generally tax-free, even when you withdraw it (CRA, June 2017).

The Canada Pension Plan is the base under both. As a self-employed agent you pay the employee and employer shares, up to C$8,460.90 plus C$832 of CPP2 for 2026 (CRA, October 2025).

An individual pension plan (IPP) is a registered pension plan with a defined benefit provision, fewer than four members, and at least one member related to an employer taking part in the plan (CRA Newsletter 21-1, March 2021). Registered pension plans exist to pay retirement income for service as employees (CRA guide T4099, May 2023), so an IPP needs an employer that takes part in the plan, with you as its employee.

If you're thinking of setting one up through a corporation, first ask your provincial regulator whether your commissions can be paid to a corporation.