Solo 401k book keeping

[Patrick Howell]

I've been looking a lot at a self-directed solo 401(k) as a long term tax shelter for investing in RE. My question is this, once I get it set up, where does it "exist?" I have a single member LLC and my understanding is that I would be setting up a separate checking account where I was appointed the trustee and that all income and expenses would flow in and out of this account.

Once the checking account/trust is created, how would you handle the financials for the actual 401k plan? In my case, I'm assuming this account wouldn't exist anywhere on my single member LLC's balance sheet? Or is the accounting method for this plan strictly arbitrary as long as all transactions pass through the assigned checking account?