[lawgolfer]

The older one gets, a conversion makes less sense. At my age of 80, I could convert to a Roth and pay a large amount in taxes at the highest rate, only to die next year. This would leave a reduced sum to our son and grandchildren, which they must withdraw over the next 10 years. Although the withdrawals would be free from income tax, the total amount would be significantly reduced from what they would receive had I not converted.

What the discussion in this thread shows is that our children and grandchildren need to be shown the benefit to be gained from putting everything they can into a Roth. The greatest benefit from a Roth is from making 50+ years of deposits, letting them grow free of income taxes, then making tax-free withdrawals after retirement.

The best thing you can do for children grandchildren, or great-grandchildren, is to help them deposit all they can in a Roth from an early age. Money paid into a Roth must have been "earned". One great method to help a child etc. is for a parent, grandparent, or great-grandparent to match the child's earnings and deposit the matching money in a Roth. If your 14 year old granddaughter earns $500 by babysitting, open a Roth for her and put $500 in her account. It would be wonderful if you were able to deposit the maximum of $7K/yr, but few of us have that ability. However, every dollar paid into a Roth will grow to a large sum over the following 50+years