I keep wanting to have this argument in the comments but I think it's better to just have it here so I can point back to it. Here goes:

You shouldn't worry about RMDs specifically. You should worry about how to achieve your goals in the most efficient manner, and tax-efficiency is obviously a part of that, but "minimizing RMDs" does not itself make sense as a goal.

Worrying about RMDs is like worrying about your Check Engine light. Nobody says "you should take of your engine, otherwise you'll get the Check Engine light." The point of taking care of your engine is to keep it running smoothly so your car doesn't break down. That goal wouldn't become any less important if your Check Engine light went away.

RMDs are essentially the same. Saying "you have to think about RMDs" makes no more sense than saying "you have to worry about your Check Engine light."

If you want to argue with me, here's my challenge.

First, tell me if you care more about "taxes paid" or about "after tax income". It should be trivially obvious that the latter is what matters. Nobody sane would turn down an unexpected bonus at work just because they'd lose a chunk of it to taxes. But I think a lot of people lose sight of this when it comes to RMDs.

Second, tell me how your plans would change if RMDs went away. Imagine if they were repealed, effective immediately, and you had good reason to believe they weren't coming back. How would this change your retirement plan?

Third, tell me why your new plan is better for your finances than the RMD-influenced plan you have now.

In the vast majority of cases, you will find that the best plan with RMDs is also the best plan without RMDs.

Without RMDs ... you should still be doing early Roth conversions to keep your taxable income more or less consistent throughout your life. Without RMDs .. you should still be thinking about paying taxes in your lifetime to prevent handing a tax bomb to your spouse or heirs.

RMDs, at worst, are nudging you to do the right thing you should be doing anyway. If you're worrying about RMDs specifically, you probably haven't thought through your goals and plans in the first place.

**I recently tried a number of retirement and investment calculators** because I wanted to estimate how much I need to invest in a global ETF (VWCE) for retirement.
What surprised me is that most of them focus on future nominal dollars/euros. Very few answer the question I actually cared about:
**“What will this money actually be worth in today’s purchasing power after inflation, taxes and ETF fees?”**
So I built a small calculator for myself that focuses on those assumptions instead.
**It estimates investment growth, retirement income and FIRE using today’s purchasing power rather than just future nominal values.**
It’s completely free, has no ads, no tracking, and I’m not selling anything.
**I built it mainly for myself, but thought it might be useful to others as well.**

If anyone is interested, I’ll share the link in the comments.

**I’d really appreciate feedback, especially on the assumptions and calculations.**

Update: Since a few people asked, here’s the calculator: https://calc.ruslanpr.com

I ve seen it mentioned by financial planners and it seems good to model the guide rails approach. However it is not targeted for retail subscribers.

I'm trying to decide whether to contribute to a Traditional 403(b) or a Roth 403(b), and I'd appreciate some input. [edit: I am now seriously considering splitting between traditional and roth.]

One more point: I consider myself highly knowledgeable about retirement tax planning, so I'm not looking for explanations of how Traditional and Roth accounts work. I've already built several math models using different assumptions (tax rates, investment returns, Roth conversion windows, RMDs, etc.), and Traditional comes out ahead every time for my situation. I want to see if I am overlooking any important considerations.

Here's my situation:

• Age: 49
• Married filing jointly, current federal tax bracket: 12%
• Tenured college professor at a R1 institution; my wife is a homemaker.
• I contribute about $45k/year to my Traditional 403(b) and 457 (including employer match).
• We also max out both Roth IRAs and our HSA every year.
• We immigrated to the U.S. in 2017, so we started saving for retirement relatively late. Since 2022, we've been contributing about $68k/year to retirement accounts.
• Current retirement assets are about $700k, including approximately $400k Traditional and $120k Roth (the remainder is in brokerage accounts). No mortgage; house bought with cash.
• We also receive annual cash gifts from our parents, so we don't rely on employment income for saving and living expenses.
• I plan to retire around age 62 and delay Social Security until age 70.
• Between retirement and age 70, I expect to have very little taxable income, so my plan is to do Roth conversions during those years.
• We currently live in a state with income tax but plan to retire in Washington, which has no state income tax. That decision is pretty much settled. I love Washington's climate. The cloudy, rainy weather is actually a plus because of my skin issues. We also want to live near a large Asian community, so Washington is really our only choice.
• We also own properties in Asia and expect to spend about half of each year there during retirement.

Reasons supporting traditional 403(b):

• I can save my state income tax because I will retire to WA.
• I could later do Roth conversions during my low-income years.

Reasons supporting Roth 403(b):

• I only pay 12% federal tax now.
• It provides tax diversification.
• It protects against the possibility of higher future tax rates.
• Qualified withdrawals are tax-free.

Given these facts, which option would you choose, and why? Am I overlooking any important considerations?

I have been modeling withdrawals and it seems like the default is 95. That seems old especially for both of us. I think like 75&80 is more reasonable. But then again we could live to 100!

If I use the following funds: 40% JEPI / 40% SPHD / 20% SCHD

Why can't I live off the dividends that have been paying 5% - 6% consistently for years, even paying more when the market is in a bear cycle? Shouldn't I be able to avoid sequence of returns risk with these 3 dividend paying funds? and not even touching principal like my grandfather used to do?

I am transitioning into retirement and recently took control of my portfolio. When I finally dug into what my 401k was doing, they had me in over 18 different mutual funds that averaged $500+ a year in fees and involved constant trading.
Three years ago, at age 67, I didn’t even know what the S&P, Dow, or Nasdaq were. I opened an IRA, Roth and taxable brokerage accounts and started a deep dive into investing!
According to generic advice I have "too many covered calls."
My current DIY allocation is:
Core Dividend Growth: 25% SCHD, 10% DIVO, 4% IDVO, 4% SCHY

Business Dev & Hard Assets: 10% ARCC, 8% AMLP, 6% VICI, 5% MLPI

Covered Call/Income Sleeves: 10% SPYI, 6% JEPQ, 2.4% QQQI

Cash & Hedges: 6% SGOV, 6% IAUI

I turned off DRIP on IAUI and take the cash distributions to manually redirect into SCHD and DIVO.
For those of you who have retired or near it, and manage your own income-focused portfolios, do you see any blind spots, or do you have a better tactical idea for rebalancing that I might have missed?

Baseline Information: Single with a “die with zero strategy”. I have a retirement plan that aims to start in the next couple of years and will rely on IRA funds within a qualified account, as well as lifetime income sources such as non-cola pension, non-cola annuity and cola social security. This part of the equation is well modelled and achieves the desired outcome. Using future dollars (or even current dollars) for the final 5-10 years, even with a no-go years reduction on lifestyle expenses, it still creates a big demand on the income side of things.

Scenario: I have a Long-term Care Policy with Prudential purchased many years ago with a fixed annual fee that will have a benefit bank of $4M when I’m 80. It has a facility daily benefit option for home health care cash option that will pay out 50% of the daily benefit. Right now, this illiquid asset is not part of my retirement plan, but it seems strange to be having a retirement plan that achieves a terminal balance of zero but has no connection to the LTC.

Question: What are suggested methods to layer in the LTC into the retirement plan? No one can predict our health needs 30 years from now, but should I be keeping this asset completely off the books? Or, is there a reasonable pathway to infuse it into my retirement plan, such that I can increase my lifestyle expenditures and utilize my income sources, earlier in my retirement life?

Please let me know if there is enough background information provided and your thoughts on this question.

Thank you

(for anyone who missed the first thread, it's here)

When I posted here last month I figured I'd get a few neat, thanks replies and that'd be it. Instead a bunch of you actually dug in, found bugs, caught numbers that were wrong, told me what was missing. I spent the last two weeks working through basically all of it. Full list below.

But there's one comment I keep coming back to. Somebody said, kind of joking, that they'd never bothered looking at the widow penalty because "of course my spouse will never die." And then added, but of course I should.

Honestly that's the whole reason this thing exists. The year one spouse passes, the one left behind isn't just dealing with that, the next year they're filing as single. Standard deduction drops. Brackets squeeze. The IRMAA tiers that were set for two people now hit one person at half the income. Same money coming in, thousands more going out in tax, at the worst possible moment to be dealing with it. Nobody plans for it because nobody wants to sit and think about it. That's exactly where people get blindsided, so that's the thing I most wanted the tool to make visible.

If you've got a spouse and you've never once looked at what their taxes turn into the year after, that's the thing I'd go model first. Takes two minutes and you don't need an account for it. Better to see it now, on a quiet morning with coffee, than to have your husband or wife find out the hard way when you're not around to help them through it.

Everything else below came from your comments on the last thread. Less heavy, but you asked for all of it, so:

• Mixed ACA/Medicare households. One spouse on Medicare, other one still on ACA. Few of you flagged this. It's done right now, combined household income against the ACA cliff, separate IRMAA lookback for the Medicare spouse, both showing at the same time.
• The IRMAA lookback. The thing a bunch of you kept saying, that your 2026 income sets your 2028 premiums and not the current tiers, that's front and center now instead of buried in a table. Projected years show as ranges with a note about when CMS actually locks it in.
• Someone checked it against their actual SSA Medicare letter and the Part B / Part D surcharges didn't match. Fixed. Lines up with what SSA tells you now, Part D included.
• The tax a conversion actually costs you. More than one of you pointed out the tax bill has to come from somewhere and it eats your headroom. There's a federal tax estimate now with the bracket by bracket math right there.
• State income tax for CA, NY, NJ, IL and PA. NJ went first, because one guy wrote up this whole thing about how Senior Freeze and the NJ retirement exclusion stack on top of the federal cliffs. That comment straight up changed my roadmap.

Same as last time, free, and your income numbers never leave your browser, nothing gets sent to a server. Still no optimizer, still no "you should convert $X." It shows you the edge and the room you've got, you make the call. Every number opens up to show the actual IRS/CMS math behind it. The calculator itself needs no account. Couple of the extras (a forward RMD projection, and saving your scenarios across devices) sit behind a free signup, but everything from the last thread and everything I listed up there is open, no login.

Link: https://cliffedge.app

What I'd really like eyes on is the state tax stuff is the newest and least tested. If you're in one of those five states and a number looks off for your situation, that's the feedback I want most.

One last thing, since I know a few of you were tracking the 2028 IRMAA projections yourselves as the monthly CPI data drops (shoutout to whoever put me onto the Finance Buff updates). I keep the tables current as CMS and the CPI numbers land, and there's an optional signup if you'd rather just get a heads up when they move instead of checking it yourself. Totally optional, tool works fine without it.

To everyone who spent time on the last thread, genuinely, this is a better tool because of it. Thanks.

I'm planning to retire in two years at 61 (June 2028) and would appreciate feedback on my plans for a Roth conversion strategy.

Current situation:

• Me: 59 Approximately $200k Salary
• Spouse: approximately $220k salary will retire same year as me at age 60.
• Net worth: ~$5.6M
• Investable assets: ~$4.7M
• Mortgage: $260k at 2.25%, MCOL
• Current spending: average about $12k/month including fixed expenses and discretionary spend.

Portfolio is roughly:

• $3.8M tax-deferred
• ~$900k taxable brokerage
• Small Roth balances
• Real estate equity makes up the remainder of net worth.
• We recently rebalanced to a conservative portfolio in anticipation of retirement. Approximately 10% Money Market/50% VTSAX/ 40% Bonds. I know that's a lot of cash (due to a recent property sale). But we have it both as dry powder but also for emergency fund and sequence risk protection.

Current plan is:

• Retire at 61.
• Delay Social Security until 70.
• Use the taxable brokerage account as the bridge during early retirement.
• ACA Silver until medicare age is reached ($2.1k/month no subsidies due to conversions).
• Perform Roth conversions in early 60s while trying to stay within the 24% federal bracket.
• The goal of the conversions is to reduce future RMDs and to avoid larger lifetime taxes and also to leave a tax efficient legacy to our two adult children/future grandchildren (ie. large remaining Roth balances at the end).

Important additional details. 1.) I am at 50% pay for 2026-2027 starting in September for a sabbatical. This leaves some space for conversions. 2.) we have 3 workplace deferred tax retirement accounts (403b, 457b, 401k) between us so we can contribute 3X 24500 pretax. So this reduces AGI leaving space in 24% bracket for conversions while still contributing and working. We are doing catchup contributions to Roth due to recent tax law changes.

I've been using projection lab to run various optimizations for our retirement planning scenarios. The "Maximizing net worth" optimization seems to produce the best outcome, it leaves some RMDs, and reduces overall lifetime taxes and gives a nice projected boost to net worth. It recommends about $1.1M of Roth conversions through about age 63 (avoiding IRMAA). then more later when spending goes down in no-go years.

My question is:

1. Is it actually worth it??!! I see that it makes sense on paper, but that initial tax bill during conversions is going to be painful.
2. Also, a big concern is that the Roth conversion strategy consumes a large portion of our taxable brokerage account because I'd be paying the conversion taxes from there. Again, paying those huge tax bills in our early 60s is going to be painful. But I guess less painful than the huge bills will be in later life? I understand that it's critical to avoid withholding taxes from the tax deferred accounts, but it will be hard to watch the bridge account shrink fast during the actual time it's supposed to fund early years of retirement, and protect from sequence risk. Does it really make sense to maximize lifetime after-tax wealth or would you preserve a larger taxable account bridge for flexibility and peace of mind?
3. For those who have actually gone through large Roth conversion strategy, is there anything you wish you had considered before pulling the trigger?

Not sure if age 61 still even counts as RE. Hope this sub is the right place for this!

I have a pension that I have started receiving at 42. The pension is $65k. I have now started a new job/ second career. My salary puts me firmly in the 24% bracket without the pension (I stay in 24% with pension). I'm trying to figure out if I should contribute to a traditional 401k, Roth 401k, or a combination.

- Pension: $65k; inflation adjusted for life

- Employer match: .75 for every $1, up to 4.5% of salary

- Current retirement investments: All Roth

- Timeline: 15-20 years before I plan to really retire

- Taxes: Married filing jointly.

- Personal belief: I think taxes will have to go up before I reach real retirement age

I'm currently thinking of going 50/50 after accounting for employer contributions (more like 70% Roth, 30% traditional on my contributions) in order to build some pre-tax funds, but I don't want to have too much in pre-tax because of my belief on future taxes and my pension plus future social security income.

What say you?

Right now I'm retired. (Lower income earner) 62 years old I'm in the process of turning off my SS monthly benefit since I don't need it right now.

My wife is 60 and earns over $300,000/year. Soon after my daughter gets married in August my wife will start winding down working 32 vs 40 hours/ week, then at some point 24 hours/week, etc. A loose estimate she doesn't mind working but of course would enjoy more free time off. Winding down to no work within 3 years shortest or perhaps 5-7 years she's not committing to anything at the moment.

We have no debt. Own our home and a duplex rental property easy $1500/ month total income on that. Have a nest egg of appx 1.8-1.9 million or so.

Currently in fidelity more managed funds than I'd care to have. I've been shopping advisors and have it narrowed down to MDRN and a sole proprietary guy Anthony DeSantis Wealth Management Both are looking good. Both operating on the bucket strategy. Bills bucket stable income and thrills bucket tracking the S&P.

Right now Anthony is saying guaranteed income annuity guaranteed $8300/ month 1.129 million initial investment starting in 3 years his cut one time 5-7% of the principle. Built in rider 50% increase if either of us cannot do any of the two following ourselves.... bathe-incontinence- clothe ourself- feed- go to bathroom without help- stand up/ sit down. We spend appx $15,000/ month right now 20% of that still going towards retirement, both our SS benefits and the rental will make up the rest of that $8300 to hit $15,000.

The rest of our assets in the market tracking S&P for growth. I'm thinking there's plenty of funds we can pick ourselves low cost ETFs.

I'm also thinking we could shop our own annuity and skip that 5-7% commission.

I think it's finally getting to the point where I know and understand enough to start shopping and thinking for myself, asking the right questions. Am I wrong ?

Interested in hearing your thoughts opinions suggestions on where I'm at right now. Thanks for reading.

Could someone please let me know if setting up a Roth IRA for my children under the age of ten is acceptable? Even though they already have a 529 account, I'm considering opening extra accounts so they may continue investing the money

I am retiring at 60 years and 6 months old at the end of this year. Since 2020 I used a large boutique money management firm and had a couple of alternative investments and was pretty well diversified between domestic, international and emerging markets. I am finally in the process of moving my million plus dollar portfolio over to Fidelity. I have done a lot of research these past couple of years and subscribe to a simpler is better philosophy. My question is about the bond portion of my portfolio. Currently I have mostly intermediate duration bond funds. I have been reading mixed thoughts on BND. Is there another way I should be looking at ways to mitigate risk beyond a 60/40 or 70/30 allocation using VTI , VXUS and BND?

I got fooled into thinking Rob emailed me. The email was from robbergerllc.com And while I didn’t give any real information away, I do feel 100% foolish for falling for it a little bit.

The fake Rob scammer thanked me for "being part of the last live stream" (I asked a question that Rob answered) and I really did initially think it was Rob reaching out to me.

It was a crypto scam thing.

Be careful, folks!

Insert your favorite strategy here where spending is reduced during market downturns...

There is a lot of literature out there on guardrail type strategies where you cut back during bad times. And it makes a ton of sense. But curious if there is any literature out there for the opposite? I always like the thought of being a contrarion and maybe this is the most illogical contrarion take but I feel like the best time to take vacations and spend generally is when the markets suck and people don't want to spend money.

A sort of zig when other's zag type of approach. Obvioiusly there is a lot of risk, but I wonder if there is any way to mitigate some risk and enjoy the bleak times when other people will pause.

In my mind the benefits of such an approach would be:

*The vacation spot would be less busy since theoretically less people would be traveling.

* You would likely get better deals on all travel related expenses - air fare, hotels, merch, etc.

* Help out struggling businesses that would be hurting during this time period.

Tried looking a couple of spots to find this kind of topic, because its a little difficult in my head to SEO the correct thing without getting the inverse. Let me know if anyone else has thought about this, and ways to plan for it.

Obviously my plans only work if nobody else does it...so not sure why I'm putting it out into the ether... nevermind disregard!

Hello everyone,

I've been reading Bogleheads for quite a while and have learned a tremendous amount. I'm hoping to get a fresh set of eyes on my retirement and investment plan.

My former employer recently discontinued the complimentary financial planning and investment management service I received through Edelman Financial Engines. Since I now need to manage my own investments, I'd appreciate any constructive criticism or suggestions. Please don't hesitate to point out flaws in my thinking.

About Us

• Me: 62 years old
• Wife: 45 years old
• Texas residents
• Both in good health
• Planning to retire in January 2030 at age 66, although I'm willing to work longer if doing so would materially improve our long-term financial security.
• In an ideal scenario, my wife would take a break from working when I retire so we can travel and spend more time together while we're both relatively young. She may choose to return to work later, but I'm not counting on that income in our retirement planning.

Current Income

• My salary: approximately $149,000
• Wife's salary: approximately $55,000
• Household gross income: approximately $204,000

We're currently in the 22% federal tax bracket.

Annual Spending

Our household spending averages approximately $130,000 per year.

Our home is completely paid off, and we have no debt.

Retirement & Investment Assets

• Traditional 401(k): approximately $723,000 (still in my former employer's 401(k) plan, even though I left the company 19 years ago)
• Traditional IRA: approximately $198,000
• Roth IRA: approximately $80,000
• 403(b): approximately $58,000
• Taxable brokerage account: approximately $227,000
• Wife's retirement accounts: approximately $149,000
• 529 plan for our oldest son: approximately $80,000
• 529 plan for our younger son's education: approximately $57,000

Overall allocation is approximately 65% stocks / 35% bonds.

One challenge is that the portfolio is spread across numerous mutual funds because Edelman Financial Engines managed it for years. I suspect much of that complexity was driven by their optimization process, but I'm no longer convinced it's necessary. One of my goals is to simplify the portfolio without increasing risk or sacrificing long-term returns.

If seeing my current fund holdings would be helpful, I'm happy to post them.

Expected Retirement Income

At retirement, I expect approximately:

• Texas state pension: about $75,000/year
• Former employer pension: about $15,700/year
• Social Security beginning at age 67: approximately $41,700/year

Neither pension includes a cost-of-living adjustment.

Both pensions offer survivor benefit options, but the income figures above assume I elect no survivor benefit. I'm still evaluating whether purchasing survivor benefits makes sense.

My wife also has approximately $149,000 in retirement accounts and will receive a modest pension. Because she's younger than I am and may continue working after I retire—or may take a break and return to work later—I've largely viewed her retirement savings and pension as additional margin of safety rather than relying on them to make our retirement plan work.

College Expenses

We have two children.

Our oldest begins college this fall. We expect to contribute approximately $55,000 per year for four years.

Current plan:

• Use the $80,000 529 plan.
• Pay at least $20,000 per year from current income.
• Use the taxable brokerage account as needed for the remaining costs.

Our younger child is 15 years old. We've already set aside approximately $57,000 for his education, and I don't anticipate needing more than that.

Healthcare

As a Texas state employee, I expect to retire with retiree health coverage. At age 65 I'll enroll in Medicare Parts A and B and transition to the state's HealthSelect Medicare Advantage plan.

Taxes & Roth Conversions

We're currently in the 22% federal tax bracket.

One concern is that if my investments continue to grow, Required Minimum Distributions could push us into the 24% bracket later in retirement.

I'm wondering whether I should begin Roth conversions before retirement, after retirement, or during the years between retirement and RMD age.

Why I'm Posting

Although I left my former employer 19 years ago, I kept my 401(k) there because the investment options were good and Edelman Financial Engines continued providing professional portfolio management and retirement planning at no cost.

That benefit ended last month.

I'm now trying to determine the best long-term approach:

• Leave the assets in the former employer's 401(k)
• Roll everything into my traditional IRA
• Simplify into a classic Bogleheads-style portfolio
• Or pursue another strategy that I haven't considered

Questions

1. Based on these numbers, does retiring at age 66 appear realistic?
2. Would you work longer?
3. Would you leave the old 401(k) where it is or roll it into my IRA?
4. How would you simplify my investments?
5. Is a 65/35 allocation appropriate considering I'll have roughly $90,000 of guaranteed pension income before Social Security begins?
6. Would you recommend Roth conversions? If so, when?
7. How would you sequence withdrawals among taxable, traditional, and Roth accounts?
8. Would you purchase survivor benefits on either pension, or rely on our investment portfolio instead?
9. Are there tax planning opportunities (IRMAA, RMDs, capital gains management, etc.) that I should be considering now?
10. What are the biggest weaknesses or blind spots in my overall retirement plan?

One of our primary retirement goals isn't simply to maximize our portfolio value or leave the largest possible estate. We'd like the financial flexibility for my wife to step away from work when I retire so we can travel and enjoy life together while we're both healthy. If she later decides to return to work, we'd view that as a bonus rather than something our plan depends on.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I know it's a lengthy post, but I'm at a point where I want to simplify my financial life and make thoughtful decisions over the next few years before retirement. I sincerely appreciate any advice or observations you have.

TIA for taking the time to read through this as it will be longish. This sub has very thoughtful and courteous discussions so I thought I would tee up this one. Please be assured I have/will seek advice from licensed professionals in advance of making any moves.

Spouse and I 62/64. Both in excellent health. No smoking non drinkers gym 4x per week. Family’s with remarkable longevity. (I know no guarantees)

Taxable Brokerage $3MM+
tIRA 5MM
Roth 1.5MM

Our Taxable account is concentrated in very highly appreciated Stocks. We have been retired for 6 years and have pretty much lived on cash/investment income and selling those stock positions with less appreciation and some tax loss harvest. The easy money is gone😎.

Unique family dynamics lead to a very low fixed cost of living. (We live on a family compound). Our spending is largely discretionary; two or three international trips per year, funding grandchildren 529s and family extras and gifts. (think travel, toys etc). This comes to about $20 -25k per month.

Children are very high earners (MDs) - That is relevant.

So with that background in mind, I have modeled (mostly with Claude Ai). Roth conversion scenarios. I wont provide all details but the bottom line is that converting up to the IRRMA threshold from here to eternity does relatively nothing to the IRA balance. Think even $300k per year (6% of $5mm) and assuming a 6% rate of return leads to a static account balance. In other words when we hit RMD age, we still have to deal with a $5MM Ira.

Sticking with the generic advice above (convert up to IRRMA each year). I still have another problem- where do I get cash to live and pay tax on the conversions? Answer is sell highly appreciated stock. Modeling this becomes difficult but bottom line is to convert the same amount every year leads to higher tax,IRRMA, higher capital gains rates, investment tax surcharges and depletes passive income, the source of funds for living and lifestyle rapidly.

So here is a plan: Do a one time conversion of $3MM AND rip the taxes directly from the conversion. In other words $2MM goes to the Roth and $1MM goes directly the greedy uncle.

I know that move is universally considered nuts as the 1MM is gone for ever and does not compound yada yada.

Allow me to provide my rationale:

1. Using Claude, I built a model assuming a $2MM Ira and $3+MM taxable account. (This is what
   I would have after the event)
   And miraculously everything works much better. I can spend as I do now by utilizing my pension/projected SS and investment income. I also have some room to continue conversions (or withdraw from IRA for spending). I can be flexible. As an example, I could nibble off some of the capital gains on the appreciated stock positions at the lower rate)

2. Leaving some money in the IRA is my long term care plan.

3. Estate Planning. This significantly address tax bomb for children and potential widow penalties. Additionally, As I understand it large tIRAs are a nightmare to put in a trust. It will be simpler to administer as Roth.

4). I believe it is likely significant tax increases are possible in the future.

5. And this relates back to #1 above. We have throughly enjoyed our early retirement. Family time every day, grandkids, good health, travel etc.
   It is impossible to model for every eventuality, but under the convert every year and pinch cash flow, deplete taxable etc, I fear that I would tighten
   up spending and decrease quality of life. So in the end the total dollar amount at age 90 might be less- but it will be enough.

Thanks for your time in reading and I look forward to thoughts.

Cheers!

Tl;dr: seeking advice on 401k loan repayment. Should I withdrawal $19k principal from Roth IRA to payoff an outstanding 401(k) loan?

Context: mid-20s CPA earning just over $100k salary + around 5% annual bonus. Mid-700s credit score, have paid every account on time. Assets include $140k 401(k), $25k in roth IRA ($21k principal, remaining is earnings), $6k investment account ($2k in unrealized gains), $7k in HSA (entirely used as investment vehicle with funds invested in S&P 500 index), and house valued at $350k. Liabilities consist of $347k in mortgage loans at 6%, $17k in credit card debt (all sitting in two 0% interest cards until Spring 2027), student loans with $12k remaining balance with avg rate of below 4%, and $19k 401(k) loan.

401k loan was used to help with home purchase 2 years ago. After going through a severe depression episode, having to remodel a bathroom due to a tub leak (half of the credit card debt came from this), and going on a little too high of a spending spree to numb the depression pain, I'm trying to turn my financial life back into order.

I used Tiller for past 3 months to help with identifying spending patterns. Long-term goal is to improve is monthly cash flow to support mortgage payments for buying a second home near my childhood town. Short-term goal is to get rid of credit card debt; even though it is at 0% interest, I have done this for 3 years now and I'm tired of constantly rolling it over and paying 3% to 5% balance transfer fee. The 401(k) loan is taking up \~$240/biweekly paycheck, roughly $500/month. I would rather use this monies to begin paying down the 0% interest credit card debt before it begins charging interest next year, and then keep this extra cash flow for a new mortgage payment.

Going through options, one idea is payoff the 401(k) loan with the principal contributions I've built up in my Roth IRA. Both the 401(k) assets and the Roth IRA are invested in similar funds that track the S&P 500 index. My 401(k) contributions are made on after-tax basis with the 1/2 employer contribution being made before tax. Knowing these two facts, I don't see a major difference with funds held in the 401(k) versus the Roth IRA.

Pros

* Paying off the 401(k) loans would increase monthly cash flow by \~$500 a month. This cash can be used to pay down credit card 0% interest debt.
* The transfer of monies from the Roth IRA to the 401(k) wouldn't impact my net worth. This is transfer from one asset to another.
* I eliminate paying interest on the 401(k) loans.

Cons

* Less liquidity. The main factor in choosing a Roth IRA instead of a traditional IRA was to have principal contributions as an emergency cash source. If I payoff 401(k) loan with these funds, I won't have the same access to these funds. I could get another 401(k) loan if it was absolutely necessary, though I would likely use a 0% interest credit card if it came to this point.
* Less investment options available through 401(k) as compared to Roth IRA. Not as big of concern since most monies are in an index tracking S&P 500 performance.
* With annual contribution limits on Roth IRA + income limits, I would lose the progress I've made the last 3 years on maxing out contributions to this account. **This is the primary concern that has me question if this strategy is optimal for the long-run.** I am not sure if this should be a concern as my 401(k) is mostly after tax contributions (functionally same as Roth IRA).

Seeking advice on this strategy. Are there pros/cons variables I have not considered? Does this strategy make sense?

Bless all of you for any advice :)

Evening everyone. I just wanted to share my experience. I’m a 40 yo male. I’m in a job that has a pension coming my way, a 457b account thru vanguard, Roth IRA thru robinhood, Hysa thru wealthfront, and will probably be opening a traditional investment account thru wealthfront also.
I just wanted to share with you that recently I have really been taking an interest/obsession in retirement planning. So I was uploading all of my info(statements from all my accounts, contributions, all my pension info, CBA arguments from employer and other pension related info and any and all other info I have relative to my financial situation). I would upload this into ChatGPT and then have it simplify all of this into a document I could then turn over to Claude and now I have generated an actual ‘roadmap to retiring at 55’ slide show and PDf manual. It’s amazing. I’ve run the numbers myself using very conservative numbers and they’ve all come back accurate. It’s been a godsend. Just wanted to share this with everyone that retirement planning isn’t as intimidating as it may seem and that using ai is much easier than dealing with HR. So please consider it guys. Make your money work for you and future you will thank you! If you have any questions please let me know. I hope this is the appropriate forum to share this. Have a great night all!!