"I thought Roth conversions were supposed to save me money..."
They are.
Unless you do them wrong.
And most people?
Do them wrong. Three different ways.
1. They don’t do it at all.
Because no one told them about it.
Or worse — someone told them it “wasn’t worth it.”
Fast-forward a few decades, and they’re getting slammed with RMDs, taxes, and Medicare penalties.
2. They over-convert.
They hear “Roth = tax-free” and go all-in.
Dump their entire IRA in one year and hand the IRS a massive check.
All in the name of “savings.”
3. They under-convert.
Convert a little… wait… then freeze.
Not because it’s strategic — but because they don’t know what they’re doing.
Which means they still get crushed later on.
Here’s the real mistake:
They treat it like a yes/no decision.
Should I convert or not?
But the better question is:
How much should I convert?
Over how many years?
How do deductions and charitable donations change the equation?
If your Roth conversion plan doesn’t answer all of that...
It’s not a plan.
It’s just a guess with a tax bill attached.
