Is there anyone in a similar situation who is not W-2 employed?

Healthcare is one of the major hurdles for people leaving their traditional employment to be a full time investor. 

Good thing is employment rate is still good.  

Now that was from the employee perspective and not the employer.

Such plans are available to those who have some form of self-employment and no full time employees.

I have recently been informed that she has a retirement account through her employer.

Is this extortion?

You need to pay income tax and self employment tax.

They can teach you at the same time so you can avoid this in the future.For anyone that is a Landlord: mold is one of the most common methods tenants attempt to break their lease or extort you for money.

If there's one main employer (or most employers rely on a specific industry) it's a riskier investment, of course.But if there are lots of little, different employers in different sectors and the unemployment is low (and the population isn't tanking) then it could be a good investment if the numbers make sense.