[chrisser]

Thanks for the tip. We’re already maxed out on the HSA and my 401(k), but the IRA is something I should look into if we can swing it.

We had a bunch of one-time out-of-pocket medical expenses in 2012. I’m hoping they will hit the ridiculously high threshhold where I can deduct some of them and that will give us a little extra $ that we could put away.

[justlurking]

I'm not sure of the rules about an IRA. If you have a 401(k), I don't know if your wife can make a deductible contribution to an IRA (so you don't pay taxes on it now).

But if she can only make a non-deductible contribution to an IRA, here's a neat little trick. Check with your accountant to make sure it is done right:

• This only works if she doesn't already have a traditional IRA.
• If your AGI is over $177,000 (think that's the limit), you can't make a full contribution to a Roth IRA.
• But, she can make a non-deductible $5000 contribution to a traditional IRA.
• Immediately re-characterize the traditional IRA into a Roth IRA. Since it was all non-deductible contributions, you don't pay any additional taxes.
• All future returns on the Roth IRA are tax-free. If you leave it in the traditional IRA, you'll have to calculate the basis of the non-deductible contributions every time you withdraw from it, to figure out how much tax to owe.