Know each bucket
List current and future contributions by pre-tax, Roth and taxable treatment.
TAX STRATEGY
Build tax diversification.
Traditional, Roth, and taxable accounts create different tax options.
Match the bucket to the timeline
Estimate the retirement income already forced into ordinary-income brackets.
Avoid betting everything on one future tax forecast
Direct new dollars toward the missing tax bucket instead of predicting one future tax rate.
FLIGHT CHECK
Questions before acting.
List accounts by tax treatment
Estimate retirement income
Mark low-income years
Check Roth access
Review state taxes
THE ACTUAL SOLUTION
Leave with a decision—not another article.
List current and future contributions by pre-tax, Roth and taxable treatment.
Estimate the retirement income already forced into ordinary-income brackets.
Direct new dollars toward the missing tax bucket instead of predicting one future tax rate.
Model marginal rates, phaseouts, state tax, Medicare effects, and timing before acting on the headline tax rate.
Compare traditional and Roth
OPEN →
YOU ARE DONE WHEN
Retirement spending can be funded from more than one tax treatment.
OPTIONAL DEEP DIVES
Pressure-test the tax-diversification plan before changing accounts.
LOW-INCOME YEARS
Map the Roth-conversion window
Test conversions before Social Security, RMDs, and Medicare thresholds overlap.
OPEN → FORCED INCOMEProject required distributions
Put future pre-tax withdrawals on the same timeline as pensions and Social Security.
OPEN → MEDICARECheck the IRMAA collision
See when income decisions can raise Medicare premiums two years later.
OPEN →