"Jonathan Kamens" <jik[at]kamens.brookline.ma.us> wrote in message
news:ggfkst$cgo$1[at]jik3.kamens.brookline.ma.us...
- quote -

Then what makes sense to me is: Convert no more than what would kick you
up past the 25% bracket. Note that in 2010 (14 months from now, if you do
it in January) that the special 2-year spread for conversions is available.
Converting in 2010 and paying later makes sense if things go up, and
hopefully, we'll have a better idea of what the economy is doing by then.

--
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Harlan Lunsford <lunstax[at]bellsouth.net> writes:
- quote -

I'm in the 25% bracket now. I expect to be in the same bracket or
higher during retirement, because I currently have five dependent
children and a mortgage and try to make substantial charitable
contributions every year. God willing, the charitable contributions
will continue into retirement, but the kids will grow up and move away
and the house will be paid off.

- quote -

It seems foolhardy to throw up my hands and do nothing because I can't
tell the future. I think it's reasonable to make decisions under the
operating assumption that things will look much like they do now,
because what better choice is there? And, of course, these decisions
are not completely irrevocable, so adjustments can be made later as
circumstances (and tax law) warrant.

- quote -

I've added lunstax[at]bellsouth.net to the list of addresses which receive
acknowledgments.

It doesn't do any good to send mtm-noack[at]asktax.org a message if you
don't send it from the same return address that you use to post.
Otherwise, how is it supposed to know which address to add to the
no-ack list? I've updated the text in the ack message to make this
clearer.

--
<< ------------------------------------------------------- > << The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, > << nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties > << that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. > << > << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts > << to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy > << are at www.asktax.org. > << Copyright (2007) - All rights reserved. > << ------------------------------------------------------- >

Jonathan Kamens wrote:
- quote -

What marginal bracket are you in now? 10%? 15%? And what bracket
do you expect down the road?
What are the prospects of brackets changing in tax year 2010? in 2011?
etc?

Or, as Dirty Harry might ask: Do you feel lucky?

ChEAr$,
Harlan

P.s. If you have any mojo with that Mr Devnull fellow who keeps emailing
me, DO something. I'm tired of it. And if I get another one from him,
this is my last post.

--
<< ------------------------------------------------------- > << The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, > << nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties > << that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. > << > << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts > << to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy > << are at www.asktax.org. > << Copyright (2007) - All rights reserved. > << ------------------------------------------------------- >

Hi all,

I've got a rollover IRA at Vanguard whose funds came from
rolling over the 401k's from two different previous employers.
The total balance in the rollover IRA right now is about
$4,500, which is about 32% less than the amount of money that
was rolled over into it (due to the facts that (a) I left the
money sitting in a money market account for most of the time
since I rolled it over, and (b) the market recently crashed).

I try to keep most of my retirement savings in Roth IRAs,
since I expect (hope? :-) that my tax bracket will be higher
during retirement than it is now. It seems to me that given
the recent drop in the stock market and the corresponding drop
in the value of the rollover IRA, now would be a good time to
convert the money in this IRA into my Roth IRA and take the
tax hit.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,

Jonathan Kamens

--
<< ------------------------------------------------------- > << The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, > << nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties > << that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. > << > << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts > << to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy > << are at www.asktax.org. > << Copyright (2007) - All rights reserved. > << ------------------------------------------------------- >