[retiredguy123]

Originally Posted by Boomer

Many years ago I had a CPA I loved. He loved me, too. (Not real love, not hubba-hubba love, just the kind of love between a CPA and a multi-faceted woman who loved to pick his brain and always showed up prepared. But he retired. (sigh) I then found another CPA and I liked him a lot, but he retired on me, too. (Hmmmm, should I be taking these CPA retirements personally?)

And so, now, I have a wet-behind-the-ears CPA who is also a lawyer in the office of our regular lawyer. He’s fine, but I have to teach him a little something once in a while — like how the way I do our QCDs is OK because of where the IRAs are on deposit.

(Of course, I took him well-sourced documentation on the subject to make sure he knew that this retired high school English teacher knew what she was talking about. . .And about that English teacher thing, yes, I know in my posts I bastardize the hellouta punctuation, but I know I am doing that and it’s OK. And I will never correct anybody else, unless it is to share a laugh about a funny typo. We all have them. Although, I do wish some people would double-space longer posts into paragraphs to make them more readable — to make them look less like a manifesto — but I digress.)

Anyway, the new young CPA is coming along nicely and I don’t think he will retire any time soon.

Long story longer — CPA #1 — you never forget your first — used to tease me a little about doing those Roth conversions before RMD age. He always said, “Why do you want to pay your kids’ taxes?” I would explain that it was not about anybody else’s taxes, and that I had projected taxable income, found some room to take a little more hit, and took the opportunity. (It just seemed like a good idea at the time. And I was right. But as I said earlier, I regret not doing more of those conversions while I could.)

I still project taxable income and buffer our RMDs with QCDs, especially if I think the next year is not going to bring any need for extra income. And when I reach a point where there could be a reason to keep more of the RMDs for ourselves, I will do that. But, for now, I stay well-aware of thresholds and IRMAA. . .I always picture IRMAA as that big mean girl who was always waiting to give me a hard time in PE class when I messed up, in even a slight way, on whatever the sport du jour happened to be. The only time I was ever any good at PE was trampoline time. Oh, well. . .

Uh, oh. . .I sure am digressing today, killing time, it looks like, so I better get back to real life, where I think I need to stop thinking about Roth conversions at this point in our lives.

But to answer your question, “Why now?” — it’s because sometime I might want a little extra ice cream on my cake.

Boomer

I agree with CPA #1. I never could justify a Roth conversion. But, my IRA assets have always been in bonds. I maintained my stock investments outside the IRA to take advantage of the lower capital gains rate. I had a friend who converted all of his IRA into a Roth so that his children could inherit his money tax free. It is also hassle free as compared to inheriting a traditional IRA.

Remember, that, if you ever have a huge medical bill, like assisted living, a nursing home, or home care, you can use money in your traditional IRA and take a medical tax deduction.