Guides
Roth conversion ladder guides
The mechanics of a conversion ladder, and the four costs that routinely exceed the tax saving people are optimizing for. Every figure traces to a statutory source, and the worked figures come from the same engine the calculator runs.
Start here
How the strategy works, and what it looks like in practice.
The Roth conversion ladder
The strategy end to end: penalty-free access before 59½, and what it really costs.
The 5-year rule, and its overlapping clocks
One clock per conversion, plus a separate one on the account. Where plans go wrong.
Three worked examples
Complete ladders for three households, every figure computed rather than asserted.
What binds before your bracket does
The four costs that routinely exceed the tax saving people are optimizing for.
The bridge fund
The cash that funds the five-year wait — the constraint that actually binds.
The 400% FPL subsidy cliff
One dollar over and the entire premium tax credit is gone. Usually the largest cost.
The pro-rata rule
Why after-tax basis does not convert first, and why all pre-tax IRAs count as one pot.
Medicare IRMAA surcharges
A two-year lookback means conversions at 63 raise your premiums at 65.
State taxes on conversions
The cost the calculator deliberately omits, and how moving changes the arithmetic.
Reference
Comparisons and lookup tables.
Once the concepts make sense, thecalculator applies them to your own figures, and themethodology page sets out every formula it uses along with what it deliberately leaves out.