Where to invest after 401k?

[Coloradostache]

Been reading here for 6 months or so, but first time posting. Some great topics covered!

I've been maxing my 401k and HSA account, but am not sure if there are any other tax sheltering places I should be investing?  I'm a Canadian now permanently living in Colorado (awesome!), so still not super familiar with the tax system here. My income is $230k, single, 33, and only debt is $300k mortgage on a $620k house at 2.875%. I've been dumping into a vanguard account on top of the 401k but wanted to make sure I'm not missing any other tax shelters?  I'm over the limit for Ira right?

Thanks!

[nawhite]

First off, welcome to Colorado!!!

As for other tax shelters, I was thinking Roth IRA too but you're right about income limits, tops out for singles at $129k (phased out if you're over $114k). Fortunately you could do a "Backdoor IRA" http://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Backdoor_Roth_IRA

The gist is you create an IRA with after tax dollars. Because you are above the income limits for any type of IRA, this IRA becomes a "non-deductible" IRA, i.e. one you would have to pay taxes on. But, you can instantly (within a couple days) "Rollover" this IRA into a Roth IRA. Then you get all the benefits of the Roth.

At 230k in income though, are you self employed? If you're self employed, your "employer" can contribute to your 401k as well up to a max total of $51k for your and employer contributions.

There are some tax optimizations you could probably make too. One is to load all charitable giving and property taxes for multiple years into one year (pay property taxes and do gifts for 2013 in January 2014 and for 2014 in December 2014).

[Cheddar Stacker]

A second what nawhite said. If you are self employed there are other options to get more into tax deferred accounts (SEP IRA for one).

If you're not self employed, check with your HR department to see if there are any other tax deferral options. Our 401K has a feature where the employer can contribute an extra 1% of your salary into our 401K Safe Harbor Plan. Maybe your employer will allow you to do this in exchange for 1% of your salary. So you'd still get $230K, but $2,300 would go directly into your 401K and your new gross would be $226,700. It's small, but every dollar saved counts right?

[Catbert]

With 230K income it might be worth it to pay a CPA for a couple of hours of time to review your tax situation.

[prof61820]

I am assuming that since you're single that you don't have kids.  However, if you do, a 529 educational savings is a tax shelter for state taxes.  If you have a side business, you might be able to create additional shelters and or deductions...

[Coloradostache]

Thanks for the suggestions. I will look into them. As for the questions, no kids, and not self employed.