Tax
Roth conversion
A Roth conversion is the deliberate act of moving money from a tax-deferred account into a Roth account, paying income tax on the amount converted now so that it and its future growth come out tax-free later.
Also called Roth IRA conversion
It is a trade: a known tax rate today against an unknown one in the future. That trade is good when your current bracket is unusually low, when you expect required distributions to push you higher later, or when the money is likely to pass to heirs whose brackets are higher than yours.
The years between the last paycheck and the first required distribution are frequently the lowest-bracket years of an entire adult life, and are therefore where most conversion opportunity sits. That window has an end date on it.
What it does not do
A conversion is not automatically beneficial and is not reversible. It also has knock-on effects in the year you do it: on the taxable share of Social Security, on Medicare premiums two years later, and on any income-tested benefit. It is a modeling exercise, not a rule of thumb.
This entry is a general explanation, not advice for your situation, and it deliberately avoids thresholds and figures, because those are the part most likely to be out of date. Reviewed August 27, 2026. If a decision turns on any of it, ring the office rather than relying on a page.
Read next
These interact with it.
From definition to your situation
Whether this applies to you is a different question.
A Clarity Map Session answers it against your actual accounts, documents and tax picture. Free, 30 minutes, no obligation, and you keep the written picture either way.
30 minutes · No cost · No obligation