So.... I convinced her we need to sign up!!!
Also got her to agree, at least for the short term... that she could drop $1k/mo in the account, instead of sending that $1k/mo to pad out our 911/house downpayment fund.
That means we get another $3k out as pre-tax this year.
Now, I just to make sure that the numbers work for her to be comfortable with keeping the contributions AS IS when January comes around, to that it turns into a full $12k pretax next year.
If so that gets us...
$18k 401k (+$3k employer match)
$5250 HSA
$12k 401a
$12k 457
for total of $47,250 pre-tax toward retirement plus $5k pretax to pay childcare costs.
To me that is just amazing. If someone had told me even 5 yrs ago that I could be 'stache-ing $52,250 away pretax, I would have thought them nuts.
And the great thing is... we still have room to grow that pretax number since the 457 has an $18k limit... AND the wife has a 403b option as well for another $18k.
If we could get all the way THERE, that would $76K in pretax savings.
Just wow.
