The Roth Conversion Window: Why the Years Before 73 Are So Valuable
Henry Supinski, ChFC® · 4 min read · April 2026
For many retirees, the years between leaving work and the start of Required Minimum Distributions represent the single greatest tax planning opportunity of their financial lives. Here's why, and how to use it.
What Is a Roth Conversion?
A Roth conversion moves money from a traditional IRA or 401(k) into a Roth IRA. You pay taxes on the amount converted now, but that money grows tax-free and is never subject to RMDs. The question is: at what tax rate are you converting?
The Early Retirement Window
When you retire, your taxable income often drops significantly. Social Security may not yet be taxed. RMDs haven't started. This window, often between ages 60 and 73, is frequently the lowest-tax period of a high earner's life. Converting during this window means paying tax at a lower rate than you would have during your working years or during forced RMDs.
What Happens If You Do Nothing
Required minimum distributions currently begin at age 73 under SECURE 2.0, rising to 75 for younger workers. When they start, the IRS sets your minimum withdrawal each year whether you need the money or not. For someone with a large traditional balance, those forced withdrawals can push income into higher brackets, raise Medicare premium surcharges, and pull more of your Social Security benefit into taxable income. There is also a quieter problem. When one spouse dies, the survivor files as a single taxpayer. Same accounts, same RMDs, tighter brackets. Doing nothing is a decision, and it often means paying more tax later than you needed to.
A Worked Example
Here is a hypothetical, with round numbers, to show the shape of the opportunity. A couple retires at 62 with $1.5 million in traditional IRAs and enough in taxable savings to cover spending for several years. They delay Social Security. Their taxable income in those years is close to zero. Instead of leaving the IRA alone, they convert $80,000 to $100,000 each year, deliberately filling the lower brackets and stopping before the next one. Over ten years they move a large share of that $1.5 million into Roth accounts at rates well below what they paid while working. By 73 the traditional balance is smaller, the RMDs are smaller, and a growing pool of money is out of the tax system for good. The exact numbers will differ for every household. The pattern is what matters.
Getting the Amount Right
The annual conversion amount is the whole game. Convert too little and you waste the window. Convert too much and you pay tax at the rates you were trying to avoid. Each year we look at where taxable income sits, how much room remains in the current bracket, and what a conversion does to Medicare premiums two years later, since those surcharges look back at prior income. Paying the conversion tax from a taxable account, rather than from the IRA itself, usually lets more money reach the Roth. This is annual work, not a one-time decision. Consult your tax professional before converting, because the tax is real and it is due for the year you convert.
How We Approach It
Roth conversions never stand alone in our planning. They interact with when you claim Social Security, how you sequence withdrawals, and what you want to leave behind. We model the conversion window year by year inside the full plan and adjust as tax law and your life change. If you want to test the idea yourself first, the Retirement Hub has a free Roth conversion calculator.
Questions We Hear
Is there a penalty for converting before age 59 and a half?
No. A conversion is not an early withdrawal, so the usual penalty does not apply to the amount you convert. You owe ordinary income tax on it, and converted dollars carry their own five year clock before you can pull them out penalty free if you are under 59 and a half. Convert money you plan to leave invested.
Can I undo a conversion if I change my mind?
No. The ability to reverse a Roth conversion was eliminated by the 2017 tax law. Once you convert, the tax bill stands. That is why we size conversions carefully and often wait until late in the year, when income for the year is mostly known.
Should I convert my entire IRA?
Almost never. Converting everything at once stacks the full balance into one tax year and defeats the purpose. The strategy works by spreading conversions across low income years and stopping at a bracket line each time.
What if tax rates go down in the future?
They might. Nobody can promise where rates will be in twenty years. What you can know is your own rate this year. When that rate is unusually low relative to your working years and your projected RMD years, converting at today's known rate is a reasonable bet, not a guarantee.