A worked example
A Roth window in early retirement
Maya, 60, single, retired last year with $800k pre-tax, $50k Roth, and $150k in a brokerage account. Part-time work brings in $40k while her income is unusually low.
“What if I convert $50k a year to Roth for the next five years, and what does $80k a year look like instead?”
What the projection shows
A side-by-side comparison of the two conversion sizes: which bracket each one fills in each low-income year, the lifetime tax (in present value) of each path compared with doing nothing, and which years cross an IRMAA threshold.
What the projection also found
Nothing was missing from the inputs. These follow directly from the numbers above, under the assumptions this example uses.
- The $80,000 converted in year 3 adds $1,299 in Medicare surcharges in year 5, two years after the conversion.
The planner opens with this household already filled in. Change the balances, the ages or the assumptions to match your own situation, then run it.
A projection based on stated assumptions. Not financial or tax advice.