Compare bracket-based strategies
Set federal-bracket conversion strategies beside a no-conversion baseline to see the lifetime trade-offs.
Roth conversion planning
A tax decision today.
A lifetime of trade-offs.
Explore when moving pre-tax retirement savings into Roth could change the plan. Compare conversion strategies across the whole forecast.
Roth conversion planningInside MoneyWhatIf
See what’s possible
What could a conversion window be worth?
Compare the tax paid during conversion with the effect on later withdrawals, ending assets, and projected legacy.
Read the detailed guideAdd the limits you want to explore
Consider annual conversion limits and income constraints related to Medicare, ACA subsidies, and capital gains.
Inspect the schedule before applying it
Review the proposed conversions year by year, then apply a selected schedule to the plan.
Explore the details
Look at the income already in the year
Conversion room depends on more than a target bracket. Earnings, investment income, and other sources already occupy part of the year’s tax picture. The source breakdown helps you understand that starting point before adding conversion income and comparing the resulting cost across different years.
- Compare high-earning years with the period after wages stop.
- Keep effective source rates distinct from marginal conversion costs.
Income and tax sourcesInside MoneyWhatIf
From a question to a clearer picture
Compare a conversion schedule before applying it
Roth planning compares how moving pre-tax money changes the projection, including the tax cost and later account balances.
Review accounts and shared guardrails
Start with eligible pre-tax balances and realistic income and retirement assumptions. In Step 1 of Tax Planning, review the annual cap and any relevant capital-gains, investment-tax, Medicare, or marketplace-coverage guardrails. The same selected boundaries apply across the comparison columns.
Compare targets and inspect the years
Let the comparison finish, then select a target column. Read the conversion amount, timing, modeled cost, and lifetime effects beside the no-conversion baseline. Continue to the conversion charts and expandable annual schedule to understand when money moves and what limits each year.
Apply a schedule when you want to explore it throughout the plan
Apply to plan carries the selected schedule into the projection, cash flow, estate, and reports. Review those effects together. Step 2 can then account for the income room consumed by applied Roth conversions when it models gain harvesting.
Connect the whole plan
Follow the later withdrawals a conversion can change
Moving money to Roth changes where future balances sit and can alter the pattern of later pre-tax distributions. The withdrawal chart provides the longer view behind that decision. Compare the converted plan with its baseline, then examine the tax and after-tax wealth outcomes alongside the changing sources.
- Inspect when pre-tax accounts supply retirement spending.
- Review later required distributions as well as the initial conversion cost.
Withdrawal sourcesInside MoneyWhatIf
One way to use it · illustrative scenario
Compare a smaller target with a broader conversion window
Imagine a household with pre-tax retirement savings and lower earned income in its first retired years. It wants to compare possible conversion schedules.
Try an example planThe choice to explore
Hold the household assumptions and guardrails fixed, then compare a lower federal-bracket target with a higher target.
Where to look
Look at the years used, the total converted, and the cost of converting. Then compare ending after-tax wealth and the estimated rate on later pre-tax withdrawals.
What you could learn
Converting more is not the same as improving the result. The comparison shows the timing and tax trade-offs under this household's modeled assumptions.
Make sense of what you see
Read beyond the bracket label
Separate baseline values from changes
The comparison identifies the no-conversion baseline and shows how each target changes key outcomes. Read the row label before comparing figures: an ending balance, a difference from baseline, and a conversion tax cost describe different quantities.
A bracket name is not the whole conversion cost
In bracket mode, the column names a federal ordinary-income target. The cost row captures the modeled effect of the conversion, which can include other interactions. Compare that cost with later withdrawal assumptions instead of treating the column label as an all-in rate.
A quiet year can explain the schedule
The annual view shows conversion timing and the limits that stopped a year. Small or absent conversions can reflect income already filling the available room, a cap, another guardrail, or a lack of pre-tax money remaining to move.
A little more detail
Good questions to start with.
What changes with Price per $1 targets?
The columns become ceilings on the modeled average tax cost per converted dollar, instead of federal-bracket targets. Other guardrails and the annual cap still apply. Lower-rate first is inactive in this mode because it is defined around bracket opportunities.
Why might the page find nothing to convert?
The plan may lack eligible pre-tax accounts, run out of pre-tax money before the relevant years, or have no conversion room under the selected limits. Read the empty-state explanation and annual constraints before changing assumptions.
When does a reviewed schedule enter the plan?
Selecting a column previews it. Apply to plan saves it; continuing to Step 2 can also apply an explicit choice, or the displayed recommendation when no schedule is saved. Current results and an editable plan are required. Check the Roth status when you enter gain harvesting.
Keep exploring
The next piece of your picture.
Tax analytics
Explore estimated lifetime taxes and inspect the income, rates, and deductions behind each year.
Capital gains harvesting
Explore realizing gains in lower-rate years, raising cost basis, and coordinating the strategy with Roth conversions.
Estate planning
Follow projected assets through debts, estimated taxes, and estate costs to the legacy left behind.
Know the language
Financial terms behind this feature
Tax-Efficient Withdrawal StrategyRoth Conversion LadderTax-Deferred AccountTraditional IRARoth IRAIRA RolloverPro-Rata RuleRoth 5-Year RulesRoth ConversionTax DiversificationIRMAAPremium Tax Credit401(k)Roth 401(k)403(b)SEP IRA
Browse all financial termsYour next chapter
Bring your own what-if.
Start with your numbers. See where they could lead.