Handymen getting screwed on retirement planning with no benefits, who's with me?

Been doing handyman work for 25 years, fixing everything from leaky faucets to building custom shelves with my Kreg pocket hole jig, and I'm pissed about how little we're set up for retirement. No 401k from clients, just scraping by on 1099 gigs, and now I'm staring down 60 with barely any savings. Out here in rural Ohio, the old farmhouses keep the work coming but the pay doesn't match the wear on my back from hauling Milwaukee packsaws up ladders all day. Saw a post in Handyman Nation group where a guy said he finally got a SEP-IRA going after missing out on employer matches his whole career. Tommy Mello talks about this on his podcast, pushing for business owners to treat themselves like employees with real retirement plans. It's bullshit how the trade leaves us hanging while corporate types retire fat. We need to band together and demand better financial setups for solo handymen like us.

Don't wait till you're my age to start a Roth IRA, or you'll regret it when Social Security runs dry.

goddamn clients treat us like disposable, no benefits ever.

Haha, my retirement plan is selling my tool collection on eBay when I can't lift a hammer anymore.

Set up a solo 401k through Vanguard, contributes more than a SEP for us independents.

frustrated as hell, just fixed a deck in the pouring rain and thought about how I'll be eating cat food at 70.

Same here man, hauling locksets and deadbolts all day with nothing to show for the future.

we're all in this boat, no union backing like the plumbers get.

Get disability insurance now, handyman injuries pile up fast.

Felt that, brother. My knees are shot from years of subfloor repairs.

Look into HSAs for tax-free medical savings that roll into retirement.

This is why I started stashing 10% of every fence job into index funds.

Insurance companies and the system are out to get us independents.

Collective rage building, time to unionize handymen or something.

Same grind, no end in sight for savings.

Venting sessions like this keep me sane.

Big corps buying up small ops means even less for our pensions.

PE firms are the devil, squeezing every last dime from trades like us.

SEP-IRA is simple, max it out on your tax return.

The whole gig economy is rigged against retirement for hands-on guys.

Warning: skip the flashy tools, invest in a financial advisor who gets trades.

Clients nickel and dime us, then ghost on big jobs.

Finally socked away enough from garage conversions to fund a basic IRA.

Proud I hit 50k in savings after 15 years of odd jobs.

Took me two decades of painting trim to build a nest egg.

Use QuickBooks to track expenses and deduct everything for better tax savings.

Government taxes us to death while giving breaks to suits.

Scaled my side gigs to afford a full retirement account.

My plan? Retire to a tiny home I built myself, haha.

Start a side hustle within handyman work for extra retirement cash.

I hear ya, the struggle is real for us solo operators.

Trim work and repairs got me to a comfortable cushion.

Band of brothers in this mess.

Haha, my retirement is teaching grandkids bad habits on the job.

All us old timers feel the pinch equally.

The lack of benefits is criminal for what we do.

Shared pain, man.

Feels like we're all getting hosed on this.

Every handyman I know is in the same boat.

Yup, total commiseration.

Lol, at least we got stories for the bar.

Solidarity, folks.

This thread nails the frustration.

Couldn't agree more.

Damn right, we're pissed together.