[Gladys Turnip]

Originally Posted by Laker14

I'm mulling over the idea of making some substantial Roth conversions from my regular IRA account.

Other than a couple of homes, one in TV and one on a lake in NY, all of my money is in IRAs. I'm 71, and with the amount in my IRAs, and my yearly draw, I am in a comfortable position, UNLESS...where my plan gets shaky is if I or my wife live into our mid-90s (we have some history of long life-spans as well as some history of early demise, so it's a crap shoot), and we have all of our money in IRAs, we could get into some very heavy RMD years, with exorbitant tax rates, and serious depletion of our wealth.

So, it seems to me that Roth conversions over the. next 10 years could be a good hedge against that. From my calculations, somewhere in the 4 or 5 year range would be the break-even point. After that it's a clear win.

From what I've researched, the immediate costs would be obviously, more income tax now, and a bump in our Medicare premiums. Factoring those in, we get the tax back later when we withdraw the Roth money tax-free, and at the pace required of our lifestyles, not at a pace dictated by the IRS.

Furthermore, there is a very good chance that only one of us would survive into such an old age, and the survivor would be taxed at the Single rate, which would be even more of a burden.

As long as I am certain (and I'm as certain as I can be) that we won't need to tap the Roth IRA for 10 years, this seems like a no-brainer.

I'm interested in the opinions of others who may have done this, or are considering doing this, and what their thought processes are.

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Yes, there are many pros and cons to converting (or not converting) Traditional IRA money to Roth. But one factor I have not seen mentioned yet in this thread is simplification. That is, while the decision whether to convert is usually a very close question from a purely financial standpoint, the simplification benefits of converting to Roth are often a game changer. More specifically, after conversion you no longer have to worry about RMDs or IRMAA or income taxes of any sort. This makes life much easier for you, a surviving spouse, heirs, etc. Life becomes simpler. 🙂