Your in-between years
are a tax opportunity.
Most lives have a few years when income dips. Converting to Roth in those years can mean less tax over a lifetime. Pick a situation to see where the window falls.
A couple retiring at 55. $1.1M in 401(k)s, living on savings until Social Security at 67.
Illustrative households, federal tax only, in today's dollars. Figures from the optimizer. Educational scenario modeling, not tax or financial advice.
Find the window
before it closes.
Share a few details: income, savings, and how the next decades look. The optimizer charts every income source across your lifetime, from salary to Social Security to pensions.
Then it shows you the gap: the low-income years between retirement and required minimum distributions, when your tax rate is at its lowest and each conversion dollar goes furthest.
Move the sliders to see how retirement timing changes the window. Miss it, and RMDs fill those brackets for you.
Fill your brackets,
not the IRS’s.
The optimizer weighs every year of your timeline together and surfaces the schedule that keeps conversions in the lowest brackets available, year after year, to maximize after-tax wealth over your lifetime.
No spreadsheets. No guessing at “how much should I convert?” The answer is a number, for every year.
Drag the slider to convert.
Federal tax only, after the $32,200 standard deduction. Each green segment is conversion dollars placed in a bracket.
A schedule you
can act on.
See how conversions fill your brackets year by year. Adjust anything (income, amounts, assumptions) and watch the impact in real time. Understand the tradeoffs, then plan with confidence.
Conversion register
loading Margaret's scheduleMargaret's optimized schedule, computed live by the optimization engine.
| Year | Convert | Bracket | Tax that year | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Margaret, 63. The window is open right now.
Registered nurse, retired last year. $1.4M in a traditional 401(k), no Social Security yet, and about a decade before required minimum distributions force six-figure taxable income.
The optimized schedule converts through her lowest-tax years, before RMDs take the choice away.
See how Margaret talked it throughThree ways the tax code
punishes waiting.
The RMD tax torpedo
At 73 or 75, depending on birth year, the IRS requires withdrawals whether you need the money or not. They stack on top of Social Security and push you into brackets you never chose.
The IRMAA cliff
One dollar over a Medicare income threshold raises your premiums for the whole year. Conversions need to land under the cliffs, not near them.
The widow's penalty
When one spouse dies, the survivor files single: similar income, roughly half the bracket space. Converting while joint brackets still apply can protect the survivor.
Start with your window.
Answer a few questions, see where your low-tax years fall, and plan from there. Flexible enough for your situation, simple enough that you won’t need a spreadsheet.