#roth-ira

We ran a $50,000 leftover 529 balance through the SECURE 2.0 rollover math — the $35,000 lifetime cap strands $15,000 permanently, and even the eligible portion takes 5 years to move at the annual Roth contribution limit.

We ran $200K taxable, $600K traditional, and $150K Roth against a $60,000/year spending need over 25 years — the conventional draw-down order (taxable first, Roth last) saved real tax dollars versus drawing proportionally from all three.

A Roth conversion ladder converts traditional IRA funds to Roth during a low-income year, betting your future marginal rate will be higher than today's. The classic case: the gap years between early retirement and Social Security.