What about the combo of a little of each of Roth contributions from each spouse's account + taxable accounts + other (HSA maybe, part time job, etc)?
DH retired at 55, while we have our youngest still in college. In anticipation of his retirement I hoarded cash a bit, left an extra 6-12 month's expenses in our checking account. I was still working part-time, mostly just while we have that last dependent for tax credits like EITC, and to pad my retirement account a bit more. So my income after retirement contributions plus refundable tax credits were about half our expenses, rest came from spending down the cash bucket. We also started Roth conversions of DH's tIRA, because our AGI was low.
Once the cash dwindled, the next account I tapped was our HSA. I had not been reimbursing us for medical expenses, just paying out of pocket and maintaining a list of paid expenses. So now I withdrew that total of unreimbursed expenses to replenish the checking account - another year of spending with my income. Did another Roth conversion.
Once the HSA money dwindled, it was time to start withdrawing from past Roth IRA contributions. Between my Roth and DH's Roth we have $120k in contributions, so used judiciously they could cover extra needed to get us to 59.5 when our Roth IRAs become qualified. Those early Roth conversions we did will also begin reaching 5 years to be fully seasoned and qualified.
My very part-time job isn't strictly necessary, just to take advantage of EITC while we have our last dependent still on our taxes. I'm very much on a OMY plan and may quit if it stops being fun.
We just made sure we had a variety of sources of accessible funds to tap for flexibility. If I was not earning, we could substitute larger Roth conversions and larger Roth withdrawal from past contributions/seasoned conversions.
We just made sure
DH retired at 55, while we have our youngest still in college. In anticipation of his retirement I hoarded cash a bit, left an extra 6-12 month's expenses in our checking account. I was still working part-time, mostly just while we have that last dependent for tax credits like EITC, and to pad my retirement account a bit more. So my income after retirement contributions plus refundable tax credits were about half our expenses, rest came from spending down the cash bucket. We also started Roth conversions of DH's tIRA, because our AGI was low.
Once the cash dwindled, the next account I tapped was our HSA. I had not been reimbursing us for medical expenses, just paying out of pocket and maintaining a list of paid expenses. So now I withdrew that total of unreimbursed expenses to replenish the checking account - another year of spending with my income. Did another Roth conversion.
Once the HSA money dwindled, it was time to start withdrawing from past Roth IRA contributions. Between my Roth and DH's Roth we have $120k in contributions, so used judiciously they could cover extra needed to get us to 59.5 when our Roth IRAs become qualified. Those early Roth conversions we did will also begin reaching 5 years to be fully seasoned and qualified.
My very part-time job isn't strictly necessary, just to take advantage of EITC while we have our last dependent still on our taxes. I'm very much on a OMY plan and may quit if it stops being fun.
We just made sure we had a variety of sources of accessible funds to tap for flexibility. If I was not earning, we could substitute larger Roth conversions and larger Roth withdrawal from past contributions/seasoned conversions.
We just made sure
Statistics: Posted by teen persuasion — Sat Aug 23, 2025 8:15 am — Replies 16 — Views 929