Overview
- Recent coverage published Friday and Saturday confirmed SECURE 2.0 raised the RMD start age to 73 and set a further increase to 75 in 2033, giving many retirees an extended planning runway.
- Industry data from Vanguard and Fidelity show the typical retiree converts little or nothing to Roth accounts during this low-income window, leaving avoidable tax risk across lifetimes.
- A staged Roth conversion lets retirees pay tax now at lower rates so future withdrawals are tax-free and no RMDs are required from Roth IRAs, but taxes should be paid from non-IRA funds to avoid eroding savings.
- Failing to act can trigger concrete harms: large RMDs can push Social Security and investment income into higher brackets, raise Medicare premiums, saddle a surviving spouse with higher tax rates, and force heirs to take large taxable distributions under current 10-year rules.
- Advisers recommend filling low tax brackets year by year, using qualified charitable distributions to satisfy RMDs without added income, and running joint lifetime models now because simple, early moves can reduce taxes for owners, spouses, and children.