third of them, have 401(k) plans. if you re work at a company big or small, you should be putting away as much money as you can in a retirement plan. it s the last beacon of light in a very high tax dark world we re in right now. the most money that you can put in is pretaxed. so if you re an individual, you can put away up to 17 1/2 thousand dollars into your 401(k) plan. if you don t have a 401(k), get an ira. you can set that up with your bank on monday. put away 5500 bucks and it s pretax. what about giving gifts? everybody is allowed to give up to $14,000 individually to anybody that you want. and if you re married, you and your spouse can each give $14,000 apiece to anybody that might be a future beneficiary. so for people that are looking to reduce their estate taxes, particularly when it comes to city, state, local tacks, where the biggest bite happens, you can give money away to your kids, for example, beneficiaries, $14,000 a year apiece. that s something you want to thin