?? The whole point of my comment was that some people don’t have those 5 years saved up.This is very confusing. Why would you need to do the Roth conversions while working if you have 5+ years saved in accessible money (taxable, Roth, HSA, etc)?
I think the point is - because it became glaringly obvious to me once I actually started to pencil out how this would work in my case - that if you want to retire early (before either 59.5 or 55 - I am 47) and you don’t have enough in taxable or Roth to get you to those ages - Roth conversions while you are still working will generate huge tax bills that you must pay out of your normal cashflow.
It isn’t just about planning 5 years ahead. It’s that those conversions are going to generate tens of thousands of dollars a year in tax bills - right at the time when our cashflow is the tightest (kids about to go to college, etc). So it really takes a lot more than 5 years to set up. You have to have both 5 years+ of expenses saved in advance in a location you can access it and then you need the 5 years to start the conversion ladder.
Assume 5 years available in those funds, i retire at 46.
Convert each year while retired and you start accessing those ladder funds each year from age 51-59.5
Statistics: Posted by onourway — Sat Dec 20, 2025 5:51 am — Replies 80 — Views 6210