Can you do one of these for people who start out single? Not everyone is married.

Excellent video! Now how about one for single retired folks too.

Thank you for putting this up. There's so much YouTube advice on why you don't need to do this..

Something I've learned about money is that it can buy you reduction of hassle and aggravation. Since reduced hassle was a retirement goal, I did a big conversion that cost me more than dragging it out would have, but now I have money I can take out when I want or not and don't have to report. If I kick off first, my wife has that, too. My child will have 10 years of untaxed growth and the lack of reporting on taxes. This is a reduction of hassle.

Also, my wife is less likely to pay significant IRMAA if I kick off first, or to lose any other tax reductions that government likes to take away from the successful.

Thank you. Usefull, clear info. First time I've seen one of these that fits our situation.

It was nice to see a presentation of who should convert most or all an IRA, rather than those who should not convert.  We are in a similar situation as your examples and it confirmed my analysis of a few years ago.  
It would have been nice to mention some of the reasons you examples may want to leave a manageable amount in the IRA for things such as QCDs.  
Thanks.

I noticed that 6 months ago. I am 63 and lost my husband 2 years ago. Thinking of retiring at 65 and for the first time I looked at all the numbers, oooops!  

Even my small 401K will be hitting IRMAA at 75 with pension and social security... Adding my husband's IRA? I am doomed!

So talked to professional retirement advisor and taking all my husband's brokerage account and IRA out and putting them in no fee Roth IRA annuity. Paying tax and go higher tax bracket for 2026, but retiring in 2029! It won't affect my medicare...

I will take survivor benefit and pension to convert as much 401K as I can under first IRMAA threshold before RMD, then when my delayed social security at 70 starts, not much space left for conversions.  I stopped contributing traditional 401K but putting max to Roth 401K with 9% company match and max to Roth IRA now till retire.

I will have more than enough to spend all as we had no children! Yay! 😊 .

IRA withdrawals should just be cap taxed at 22% since annual contributions were capped at a number that is irrelevant to the ultra rich.  No one should have to pay 32% for being a good saver/investor after retiring from a typical well paying but not exorbitant job after 35 years of toiling at it.

I'm single and fall under scenario #1, Legacy Builder.  My CPA told me converting all at once would cost me a small fortune.  Not only would it push me into the highest tax bracket, it would cost me more in capital gains and some other penalty that I can't remember right now.

If widowed Barbara moves the RMDs into a UIL, is there tax? She borrows against the dividend earning whole life insurance if she needs to or the beneficiary gets a tax free benefit on death.

Best to speak with your CPA/tax atty, your Finacial Advisor and keep the wealth earned.

Suggestion for future content as I'm finding myself in this situation😅
Those of us in our early 50s who have lost our jobs and the future does not look bright. Is unemployment a good time to do Roth conversions? Next year I will have zero income if things stay as they are. I'm planning on taking some capital gains in my taxable brokerage and converting my IRA up to my tax bracket. My gut tells me it's a good idea because I don't have income. Am I missing anything here?

couple #2 could leave some trad ira money as their current expenses though covered by SS and pension will likely still have medical expenses later and if it exceeds 7.5% agi could be tax deductible if laid from a trad ira.

There might be a 4th category that could be addressed.  Those that are retiring in their late 50s that will be inheriting large IRAs.  I feel that I need to convert a lot more early on so that when that happens I will be able to ride through the 10 years that the inherited income will effect.  A bit niche, but hard to plan for.

Really useful framework for identifying these three profiles — but I think there's a math error in the Diane and Walt example that's worth flagging.

You calculate their $900k conversion as taxed at a flat 24% rate ($216,000). But since they're already at the top of the 22% bracket ($211,400 for 2026 MFJ), converting $900k more in a single year would actually spill through the 24%, 32%, 35%, and 37% brackets. Run the math on the actual brackets and the tax bill comes out closer to $297,000 — which is actually more than the $288,000 you calculate for the kids inheriting it at a flat 32%.

So as a single lump-sum conversion, the numbers would argue against doing it — it only comes out ahead if spread across several years, which is the opposite of what your example models (though it matches the "never in one lump sum" advice you give at the very end). Might be worth a follow-up video showing the year-by-year version, since that's really the strategy that makes the math work.

I appreciate this video. I don’t know if you have any videos on inherited beneficiary Ira? I inherited mine in 2000, so it’s distributed over my lifetime but I’ve been fortunate enough to have some good Stock pics and the RMD‘s now at my age 68 and beyond, are you going to really really rack up as their significantly higher than the IRS age 73 factors. And I can’t roll into a Roth. So would love to see a video or get your input on people like me which are probably a small smaller subset, but definitely getting burnt being single and preferring to work but not really being able to afford to work in the next few years, especially when I claim Social Security at age 70.

Very good, but what about QCD's?

Then pay a huge Medicare part B bill........

Scenario #3 (the widows tax) can be avoided by letting the traditional ira  be inherited by the kids.  This is especially useful when there are multiple kids so that each kid gets the reduced yearly income, making less impact on their AGI.

Of course, all of your examples include people with pensions.  Other guaranteed income could also be a factor - annuities, rental income, etc.  Anyone who does NOT have guaranteed income would be silly to convert 100%, as they’d lose their standard deduction once they were 100% converted ( let alone the lowest marginal tax brackets).  

My guaranteed income before RMDs is already in the middle of the 22% bracket, so I would not be losing any low tax rates on my RMDs if I were fully converted.  I haven’t done the math, but it is possible that 100% Roth conversion could be a benefit to my situation.

If couple 2 dies, doesn't the taxable brokerage account become 0% tax on the inheritance if the inheritor transfers to their name at the time of couple 2's death?

So, are there ANY scenarios that a single person should convert most or all of their traditional IRA when their fixed income more than takes care of their living costs and they have no plans to use their retirement savings?