Roth Conversion - any regrets?

[sutherland]

This year I'll convert cash from my IRA to a Roth IRA.  This is my first Roth conversion and I plan to do it annually for the several years.  I've done my homework and I understand why the conversion has its benefits.  I'll only convert from my IRA a sum that will put my taxable income at the upper limit of my tax bracket, without bumping me into a higher bracket.  Have any of you done a Roth Conversion only to regret it later?

[+ FrankR]

15 minutes ago, sutherland said:

This year I'll convert cash from my IRA to a Roth IRA.  This is my first Roth conversion and I plan to do it annually for the several years.  I've done my homework and I understand why the conversion has its benefits.  I'll only convert from my IRA a sum that will put my taxable income at the upper limit of my tax bracket, without bumping me into a higher bracket.  Have any of you done a Roth Conversion only to regret it later?

I have done both Roth conversions and Roth 401k contributions for many years. Given how many years I have left before retirement it makes sense for me. Never regretted it - but you may want to talk it over with your tax preparer/CPA ahead of time. Especially if you have more than one IRA account it gets very complicated how your conversion will be allocates across the various IRA accounts. 

[sutherland]

18 minutes ago, FrankR said:

but you may want to talk it over with your tax preparer/CPA ahead of time

Of course the tax laws can change dramatically, but the RMDs associated with my IRA will occur at a time when I'll be earning a pension from my job plus Social Security.  I've known people whose retirement income was higher than the salary during their working years.  Looking at the figures, it's better for me to pay $10k in taxes now with the Roth conversion rather than $20k in taxes in 2040.  Also, hoping that I make good investment decisions, the 2040 balance on my Roth IRA will be much higher than my IRA balance now, so I'm happy to see that future investment income as tax free

Edited March 30 by sutherland

[+ Vegas_Millennial]

8 hours ago, sutherland said:

Have any of you done a Roth Conversion only to regret it later?

No regrets here! 

In 2020, I made an "Emergency Withdrawal" (allowed in 2020 for anyone who had proof of a COVID diagnosis that year) and drained my traditional IRA in order to cash flow my maximum contributions to my Roth IRA and Roth 401k for a few years.  Because of the "Emergency Withdrawal" legislation, I avoided the 10% penalty and was able to spread the withdrawal income out over 3 years on reported income taxes.  I'm so happy I did that!  It's better for me to have the taxes out of the way and for all that money to grow tax-free for the next few decades.

Edited March 31 by Vegas_Millennial

[Lotus-eater]

Retirement planning software like Boldin is useful to check how much you should convert to Roth.