u/DoeJumars

I’m 38, make 165k salary. married file jointly with a stay at home wife, 2 kids.

-Paid off house $ car (share, I WFH)

-370k in traditional 401k

-50k in Roth IRA / maxing

-50k in spousal Roth IRA / maxing

-50k in 529

-20k in HSA / maxing

-30k brokerage / $500 a month in

-50k cash

I am maxing out both of our Roths and our HSA. I stopped contributing to my traditional 401k as we have no match and I want some more money for the in between years.

I just got a side gig consulting that I expect to make 20-25k a year in. it is 1099c I’ve never done 1099 and don’t have much if anything to write off so I’m wondering what my best option here is.

I know technically I should probably max the 401k to save 4-6k a year on taxes but I really like the idea of bolstering the accounts I can touch in those in between years, too. Wondering if I should do a Solo Roth 401k and pump in the money from the 1099 gig for a while and then convert it to my Roth IRA after (assume I can do that) or just find any write offs I can and lower that 1099 money as much as I can and just pump it into a brokerage? Any suggestions would be helpful keeping in mind my goals of flexibility now-retirement.

im not really looking to retire early per se I just want independence as soon as I can get it as I don’t know if the gettin will be this good for me forever :)

Hey all,

long story short I am married with a couple kids, file jointly and make 165k w2. I got a 1099 consulting gig where I’ll be making 20-25k a year it seems added on top.

i don’t get a 401k match at work, I have a few hundred grand in my traditional 401k, am maxing my Roth and wife’s Roth IRA (spousal) and our HSA.

my question is this, I have read about a Solo 401k and am trying to better understand if in my situation this would be really helpful. the 20-25k from 1099 work cash flow isn’t needed necessarily so I am wondering if I can invest all the gains there into this solo 401k and avoid getting killed on 1099 earnings which seem to suck if you don’t have many deductions (I don’t). seems you have to pay the employer and employee share of taxes on 1099 so in theory I can save like 40% off this money if I put it all into a solo 401k, long as my total contributions are under the ~25k limit?

am I understanding this correctly? I know most people would say that I should be doing traditional over Roth in general and I have in the past but I think at least there’s an argument with my w2 situation that I should have a balance but now with this all being 1099 and even higher taxes it makes sense shielding this money in the here and now if I can….no? Or would putting that money in via my work 401k do essentially the same thing as doing it via a solo 401k and I’m over complicating things?