to fund a new business or franchise,” says Herman Thompson, Jr., a Financial Planner at Innovative Financial Group in Atlanta. “The idea is that instead of investing your retirement funds in publicly traded companies, you can use your retirement funds to purchase shares of your own company.
“A ROBS is an arrangement in which prospective business owners use funds from their tax qualified plans to pay for new business start-ups,” says Marcia S. Wagner, Managing Member of The Wagner Law Group in Boston. “The ROBS plan then uses the rollover assets to purchase the stock of a new C-Corporation. That is, the taxpayer is rolling his or her funds over into a shell corporation in which no equity interests have been issued.
“A ROBS can be a great way to fund your business without having to take on debt or give up equity in your company,” says Linda Chavez, Founder & CEO at Seniors Life Insurance Finder in Los Angeles. “Essentially, a ROBS allows you to use your retirement savings to start or grow your business. There are a few requirements for using a ROBS. First, you must have a 401 or other eligible retirement plan. Second, your business must be a C-Corporation.