Roth IRAs can be powerful tools for long-term wealth planning. While direct contributions may be limited based on income, strategic Roth conversions allow you to shift funds from traditional IRAs into a Roth—unlocking significant tax, planning, and legacy advantages. 

Each of our advisors shares key insights on the advantages of Roth conversions. Watch their videos below for a deeper dive into how this strategy might fit into your broader financial plan. 

Tax Savings with Roth IRAs

Roth Conversions can help reduce your total lifetime tax burden. Here’s how:  

• Converting funds from a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA is a taxable event today—but may reduce your total lifetime tax burden. This can be especially beneficial when executed in lower-income years or before tax rates rise.
• Reducing traditional IRA balances can help you minimize future Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs), potentially keeping you in a lower tax bracket during retirement and avoiding unwanted taxable income.

Why that matters: 

When you turn 73 (or 75, depending on your birth year), the IRS requires you to withdraw a minimum amount out of your traditional IRA each year. These RMDs count as income and could push you into a higher tax bracket.

By converting a portion of those funds to a Roth IRA now, you lower your future RMDs—and since Roth IRAs don’t have RMDs, that money can grow tax-free without forced withdrawals.

Essentially, you pay tax on the conversion now (ideally when your income is lower), you reduce how much the IRS requires you to withdraw (and be taxed on) later, and you gain more control over your income and taxes in retirement.

Increased Flexibility & Control with a Roth IRA

Roth IRAs give you greater control over your income and taxes in retirement. 

Because Roths have no RMDs, you can decide when and how much to withdraw, allowing you to manage your taxable income more strategically. If you need to take a larger distribution in a given year, accessing Roth funds won’t increase your tax bracket like traditional IRAs might. This flexibility becomes a powerful tool when coordinating income, charitable giving, or unexpected expenses.

Plus, your Roth strategy doesn’t have to be all-or-nothing. Annual scenario testing can help identify optimal conversion amounts year by year.

When Is the Best Time to Consider a Roth IRA Conversion?

The best time to convert to a Roth is often during low-income years, such as during a gap between retirement and the start of Social Security or RMDs.

Market downturns can also create strategic Roth conversion windows. When account values are temporarily lower, you can convert more assets while paying less in taxes—then benefit from tax-free growth as the market recovers.

Benefits of a Roth IRA for Legacy & Estate Planning

A Roth IRA can also support tax-efficient wealth transfer to the next generation, making it a powerful estate planning tool. 

Beneficiaries can inherit a Roth IRA and continue to grow that inherited account tax-free for up to 10 years, enabling a decade of compounding with zero taxes on gains. This is especially impactful for heirs in higher tax brackets.

Roth IRA’s Role in Your Asset Location Strategy

A Roth IRA is an ideal vehicle for holding growth-oriented or higher-risk investments. Gains within a Roth IRA are never taxed, so allocating your most growth-oriented assets here can yield superior long-term results. 

When incorporated into your overall asset location strategy, this approach enhances after-tax wealth by placing the right assets in the most tax-efficient accounts.

Build a Roth Strategy That Fits Your Goals 

Roth conversions can offer meaningful benefits—from reducing your tax burden to enhancing retirement flexibility and supporting your legacy goals.

Our four-part video series dives deeper into each of these areas, giving you a clearer understanding of how Roth conversions may work for you.

Watch the series below, then connect with Resolute Wealth Advisor to build a strategy tailored to your long-term financial goals.

Welcome to the first episode of The Wealth Advantage: Your Guide to Market Dynamics, our new quarterly video series designed to keep you informed about market trends and financial strategies.

In this video, Ryan Geary, Associate Wealth Advisor at Resolute Wealth Advisor, discusses:

• The potential impact of tax cuts, deregulation, and policy changes.
• How inflation and Treasury yields could shape the economy.
• The outlook for U.S. equities and strategies for navigating challenges.

Watch the video now

Sophia has quickly experienced success as an entrepreneur in the healthcare field.  While she is fully dedicated to her career in helping others, she feels confident in knowing that she is doing what she can to continue to grow both personally and professionally.  At this stage of life, money is of no real concern to Sophia; she has everything that she needs and doesn’t ever feel that she is “just trying to get by.”

While out to lunch with some friends one day, the conversation shifted towards retirement.  Being in her mid-thirties, retirement always seemed so far off for Sophia, and she hadn’t taken the time to consider what retirement meant to her, let alone begin planning for it.  She’s a successful entrepreneur in the healthcare field, she shouldn’t have to worry about her money.  Her friends agree; they’re making great money and shouldn’t have to worry about much in terms of their finances, right?

But Sophia understands the importance of planning ahead; planning is what helped her get through medical school and planning is what helped her launch her company.  So why shouldn’t she start planning for the next stage of her life?

With Resolute MINDSET,, Sophia was able to work with one of our advisors to discuss what was truly important to her when it comes to her finances, her ambitions, and, ultimately, her future.  Throughout our process, we were able to determine ways that Sophia could not only identify the goals that she wants to achieve throughout her life and career, but also to put an actionable plan in place to help guide her towards success.

Throughout our collaborative and personalized process, Sophia was able to partner with her advisor to plan strategically for her business, talk about her retirement goals and ambitions, and even work on establishing a fund where Sophia could help give back to her local community and support the causes that matter most to her.

The best part?  Sophia is given a one-page financial plan that highlights her overall situation in a snapshot.  She also feels relieved in knowing that her advisor had given her recommendations of what she should look to accomplish over the next five years of her career.  At that point, Sophia can revisit her financial plan for a MINDSET Milestone meeting to begin strategically planning for the next stage of her life.

So, for Sophia, she has peace of mind in knowing that she is doing more than simply assuming that everything is “OK” when it comes to her future; she’s taking ownership of it.  And when her friends and colleagues bring up the topic of retirement next time, she can tell them that she is working towards retiring earlier than she could have ever imagined.

Sophia changed her MINDSET when it came to planning for retirement, and she now has a partner with her financial planner that will help hold her accountable and have a vested interest in her long-term success.

The client case studies, statements, and opinions presented on our website are applicable to the individuals depicted.  The above case study was given by a current client, and the individual mentioned was not compensated with cash, or non-cash compensation, nor were these individuals provided with free services or any other benefits in exchange for said statements.  The case studies, statements, and opinions are representative of actual client experiences and may not be representative of the experience of others as exact experience will be unique and individual to each client.  There are no material conflicts of interest on the part of the individual(s) giving their story and resulting from the person’s relationship with Resolute Wealth Advisors, therefore has no incentive to recommend the adviser. Performance will vary, and past performance is in no way an indicator of future success.

Alysha, age 35, is married with two children and has recently gone through a career transition.  While she understands that her financial situation has changed, she acknowledges the fact that there are many different aspects of her financial life that she could focus on, but she doesn’t know where to start.  She has tried to work with other advisors in the past, but most of these advisors required her to have investment assets to manage before gaining access to advice.

However, she understands the importance of planning early when it comes to retirement and taking into consideration the many decisions that will have to be made prior to that time.  Saving for college? Cashflow concerns? What about early retirement?

With Resolute MINDSET™, Alysha was able to answer these questions, and many others that she had not even considered.  Throughout our consultative process, we were able to meet with Alysha to learn more about her goals, objectives, and even some of the challenges that she feels she will face on her path towards financial success.

As a result, Alysha was able to work with our advisors to build a financial plan that provides oversight and recommendations that go further than just her investment portfolio.  Throughout our process, we were able to identify areas where she could focus on improving throughout her overall financial situation.  This included establishing College Savings plans for both children, identifying her annual savings goal, and discussing the potential of an early retirement.

While retirement is many years away for Alysha, with Resolute MINDSET she was able to gain access to an advisor who could help her create a plan to not only discuss her path to retirement, but to also guide her on the key steps needed to keep her on track to achieve her goals along the way.

With Resolute MINDSET, we don’t focus on investment assets, nor do we have a minimum amount of assets that you must have to work with us through this MINDSET process.  We believe in providing you with an in-depth and customized financial plan that helps you take care of today’s challenges so that you can develop your MINDSET towards a successful, exciting, and rewarding life, regardless of your age or how much money you have.

The client case studies, statements, and opinions presented on our website are applicable to the individuals depicted.  The above case study was given by a current client, and the individual mentioned was not compensated with cash, or non-cash compensation, nor were these individuals provided with free services or any other benefits in exchange for said statements.  The case studies, statements, and opinions are representative of actual client experiences and may not be representative of the experience of others as exact experience will be unique and individual to each client.  There are no material conflicts of interest on the part of the individual(s) giving their story and resulting from the person’s relationship with Resolute Wealth Advisors, therefore has no incentive to recommend the adviser. Performance will vary, and past performance is in no way an indicator of future success.