Craig Wear, CFP® advises that converting traditional IRAs to Roth IRAs should be done strategically—using math and tools to demonstrate lifetime tax and Medicare savings. He warns that to escape a significant future tax burden people often must convert more of their IRA and may need to recognize income at a higher tax bracket than they are comfortable with today.
You have to find a way to convert your IRA to a Roth IRA very strategically and with math and tools that prove your tax and your Medicare savings over your lifetime. And the other thing I'll say is you're going to probably have to convert it at a higher tax bracket than you're comfortable with today. And that's usually what it takes to escape this big tax trap that you you're in. Just because you did the right thing and saved for so long, you're also going to have to convert a whole lot more than you're probably already converting.
