Retirees Get an 11-Year Window to Convert to a Roth at Low Rates. The Average One Converts $0.

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David Beren

Sun, July 12, 2026 astatine 11:38 AM CDT 5 min read

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Before RMDs statesman astatine 75, retirees bask astir an 11-year model wherever little income makes Roth conversions astatine 12% national taxation rates possible.
The mean retiree converts $0 during this window, mostly due to the fact that paying the conversion taxation out-of-pocket is astir intolerable with a 3.9% idiosyncratic savings rate.
Suze Orman advises converting successful tiny yearly slices capped astatine the 12% oregon 22% bracket ceiling, paying the resulting taxation from a brokerage relationship alternatively than the IRA.
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Between the twelvemonth a idiosyncratic retires and the twelvemonth Required Minimum Distributions footwear successful astatine property 73 nether SECURE 2.0, astir households person astir an 11-year model during which their taxable income drops sharply. Wages halt coming in. Social Security and humble portfolio withdrawals instrumentality over. For many, that means falling into the 12% oregon 22% national bracket for the archetypal clip successful decades. It is the cheapest agelong of taxation beingness an American ever gets, yet the mean retiree converts $0 of their accepted IRA to a Roth during it.

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The Window the Tax Code Hands You

The mathematics of the model is straightforward. In 2026, a joined mates filing jointly stays successful the 12% bracket up to $100,800 of taxable income and successful the 22% bracket up to $211,400. The modular deduction is $32,200 for associated filers and $16,100 for singles. A retired mates surviving connected Social Security and a tiny pension tin person a meaningful portion of their accepted IRA each twelvemonth and inactive enactment nether the 22% threshold. Once RMDs start, the aforesaid IRA gets taxed connected the government's schedule, not the retiree's.

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The size of the cookware is not trivial. Fidelity's Q3 2025 investigation enactment the mean IRA equilibrium for Baby Boomers astatine $257,002 and for Gen X astatine $103,952. Left untouched, those balances compound successful a accepted relationship and yet travel retired arsenic mean income during a retiree's 70s and 80s, often successful higher taxation brackets than during the model years.

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