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iwfal

02/18/14 8:22 PM

#174445 RE: dav1234 #174432

Lol..trading mostly with IRA..so deferred..just can't seem to be able to swallow hit and convert to Roth



Somewhat counter-intuitively converting to Roth isn't a big saver of $. Generally the savings, if there are any, come from:

a) the fact that your marginal tax rate on the converted $ during the conversion period are lower than your expected marginal rate on the IRA during retirement (not only is this unlikely - it is actually inverted from most people's situation)

b) paying the taxes outside of the converted amount - effectively increasing the amount in the IRA that can compound interest without taxes.

Obviously there are other effects - e.g. inhertance and minimum withdrawls that also differentiate the types of IRA. But as a straight financial benefit the conversion to Roth isn't what it intuitively appears.