Dash man
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Does everyone agree that's it a no-brainer to go ahead and setup a back-door ROTH this year? Only have 2 years to contribute earned income ($7K each) since I'm retiring in 2 years.
G-Man, I suggest you and your wife each open a traditional IRA and a Roth IRA. Contribute $7,000 each to the tIRA, then immediately convert it to the Roth IRA. This is a backdoor Roth contribution and starts the five year clock running. You need this to access your Roth conversions, which can only be accessed without taxes on earnings after the Roth has been open for five years. Once that five years pass and you’re over 59 1/2 there will be no more tax on withdrawals.
If you can, you should build up some after tax funds in a brokerage account that will eventually be used to pay tax on your future Roth conversions. Choosing to pay the taxes on your conversions by withholding from the converted funds is not the most efficient way to convert because you have to withdraw additional funds for taxes, then you also pay tax on that.
Hope this helps.