<prompt> Human: Neither my husband nor I have any 401k employer benefits and are on our own. Its my understanding that we are past the limit for Roth IRA. What are the downsides to just purchasing the Vanguard SP500 index? Should we be going through a traditional IRA or can we just buy the index? Sorry, Ive been reading through PF for a while and I am not too good at understanding all this stuff. We are not self employed.  <response>: If you guys are self employed and have no other employees, you can open a solo 401k and each shelter 53k a year into a retirement account. You guys make enough money that it is at least worth putting the 5500 each into a traditional IRA to protect that from taxes. After that use an after tax brokerage to save for retirement. Youll pay more in taxes but its the saving the money thats the important part. If you guys are employed what the heck kind jobs are you doing for 125k each that dont offer a retirement plan? Every company Ive been with, even the ones that were a total train wreck with 15 employees has offered a retirement plan. 