ROTH CONVERSIONS·12 min read
Paying Roth Conversion Tax From Your IRA: What It Actually Costs
The rule of thumb says don't. Here is the arithmetic for the households that have no outside cash to pay with.
July 30, 2026
Articles
Retirement tax planning guides, updated for 2026.
Roth conversions
What a conversion actually costs once the second-order effects are counted, and how to size one.
Medicare premiums and ACA subsidies
Income thresholds that behave like cliffs rather than brackets, and the two-year lag that hides them.
PRE-MEDICARE PLANNING·12 min read
Roth Conversions at 63 or 64: The ACA and IRMAA Trap That Can Cost $30,000
If you're 63 or 64, your 2026 income sets your ACA premiums now, and your Medicare premiums in 2028. Both cliffs, one decision window.
June 11, 2026
MEDICARE PLANNING·10 min read
2026 IRMAA Brackets: How Roth Conversions Can Trigger Medicare Premium Cliffs
See the 2026 IRMAA thresholds, Part B and Part D surcharges, and how a Roth conversion, RMD, or capital gain can push retirees over a Medicare premium cliff.
June 7, 2026
Inherited IRAs and surviving spouses
What the tax code does after a death, to the person who inherits an account and to the spouse who is left.
SURVIVOR PLANNING·9 min read
Spousal Rollover or Inherited IRA? The Choice Nobody Presents to a Widow
Taking the account as your own means filling something in. Leaving it means doing nothing, and doing nothing is the expensive choice. Here is the decade, worked to the dollar.
September 12, 2026
SURVIVOR PLANNING·11 min read
The Widow Tax by the Numbers: How Taxes Change After a Spouse Dies
What actually changes when one spouse dies, in dollars, across three incomes.
July 28, 2026
INHERITED IRAS·11 min read
The Inherited IRA 10-Year Rule: RMDs and Tax Impact in 2026
2025 was the first year the rule was fully enforced, and 2026 obligations continue. Here is who has to take annual distributions, who is exempt, and how to keep the 10-year payout from creating a tax spike.
June 9, 2026
Get the next article by email
Retirement tax planning, explained in English. No spam, just new articles as they publish, a few times a month at most.