When/if things get *really* bad in the economy, that’s when you’ll need as much cash (or near cash) as possible. I’m in a similar situation to you and have seen my tax bill sky-rocket. If you or your wife are self-employed, then look into solo 401Ks. If not, then I would say the obvious stuff is to avoid paying tax as much as you can!!! As others have said, a good CPA will really help with this.
Ultimately, the tax rates right now are very low and I think they’ll probably go up. Therefore, if you’re able to save cash in Roth 401ks, or IRAs that you can convert (post 2010) to Roth IRAs, then look into that too.
My feeling is that the near future (next 5 years or so) are going to require the following:
-Liquid assets. Helps with unemployment *and* opportune buying moments when things hit bottom. The interest rates will probably suck at the time, and you’ll need wads of cash to get half decent rates.
-A mix of tax deferred and tax paid retirement assets so you can blend withdrawals from both when you retire.
