How to Tax shield my yearly Bonus?

[Richard Pince]

Hello,

I am a new investor and I have a question for the BP community.  

This year I will receive a sizable salary bonus from my employer. Through our retirement program we have the ability to defer 100% of our bonus to our 401k TAX FREE! Now, I recently found out about using a self directed IRA to invest in real estate.

So here is my question to all of you... Is there any reason why I cant defer my bonus to my 401k (to avoid taxes) and then roll that money into a self directed IRA and use that money to invest in real estate? This would avoid a 50% loss on my bonus which would be so wonderful!

Are there any hang ups im overlooking?

Thanks in Advance for any advice!