Roth Conversion Ladder Planner: the facts

1. A Roth conversion is taxed as ordinary income in the year it is done, so the cheapest way to convert a large balance is in slices, each sized to the room left in a chosen bracket. For 2026 the 22 percent bracket on a joint return runs from $100,800 to $211,400 of taxable income; the 24 percent bracket to $403,550.
2. The window is the years between retirement and required distributions, when other income is lowest; once distributions begin at 73 or 75 they fill the brackets themselves, and once Medicare begins the tiers add a second line.
3. Example: a couple with $600,000 pre-tax and $60,000 of other income, filling the 22 percent bracket each year at a 5 percent return, converts everything in 4 years and pays $111,080 of tax, 17.4% of the amount converted.
4. Left alone at the same return, the same balance would be $977,337 after ten years, all of it pre-tax and all of it eventually taxed, at whatever rates then apply, to whoever withdraws it.
5. Today's brackets are held constant, which is the plan's honest limit: the current rates are law only through the years the Act sets, and every year's slice is re-sized with that year's return in hand.
6. The standard deduction ($32,200 joint, $16,100 single) is part of the room: income up to it is taxed at nothing, so the first slice of a conversion in a low-income year can be free.

Educational only, not investment, tax, or legal advice. Results are hypothetical estimates that vary with each use and over time and are not guaranteed accurate or complete. Using this tool creates no client relationship with Considerate Capital, and the site that linked here is not affiliated with it. By using it you agree to the tool terms.