I retired at the end of 2020 at age 58 while my wife, who is in her mid 50s, is still working. We don’t lack for money! Our current situation is:
- I have $1.7M in my IRA (rolled over from various 401k) invested in index funds
- My wife has $1.5M in her 401k and makes about $300k per year. I think she will very likely keep working for a few more years.
- We have $2.6M in post-tax investments and cash.
- No debt - house is paid off, we both are entitled to decent pensions and have very good numbers for Social Security.
The main question is whether I should go ahead and start Roth conversions late this year after I turn 59.5 or wait until my wife stops working. The goal is to avoid getting hit by RMDs. We seem to have enough in post-tax money that we may not even have to touch the pre-tax accounts until our 70s (if at all).
I looked at the wiki and the Retiree Portfolio Model spreadsheet but it does not seem to really cover my case. The wiki says:
But we are already in a high tax bracket so would it make any difference?If you expect to be in a lower tax bracket in a future year, wait until that year to convert. Likewise, if converting the whole amount from a traditional IRA would push you into a higher tax bracket, convert only as much to keep you in the current bracket, and convert the remainder in future years.