At 84 With $8M Saved, Is It Too Late for Roth Conversions?
An 84-year-old with $8M questions whether Roth conversions still make sense — and whether a 2% adviser fee is worth it.
Here's the situation: you're 84, your wife is 77, and you've stacked up $8 million. Congrats. Now the question hitting your inbox is whether Roth conversions still make sense at your age — or whether that ship has sailed.
The short answer? Age alone doesn't disqualify you. What matters is your tax bracket now versus what your heirs will face later. If that $8 million is sitting in traditional IRAs, required minimum distributions are already forcing taxable income on you every year. Converting chunks to a Roth could slash the tax bill your kids inherit — and that's a very real, very tradeable reason to act even in your 80s.
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The couple in this story is also balking at paying a financial adviser 2% of assets — which works out to a jaw-dropping $160,000 per year. That hesitation is completely rational. At $8 million, you don't need hand-holding; you need a sharp CPA or a fee-only fiduciary who charges a flat rate or hourly. A 2% AUM fee on a portfolio this size is highway robbery dressed up in a business card.
The Roth conversion math gets tricky fast at this wealth level. You have to weigh Medicare surcharges, the impact on Social Security taxation, your state's tax rules, and — critically — how many years the converted money has to grow tax-free before it gets passed on. The shorter your horizon, the more the calculus shifts toward your beneficiaries' situation rather than your own.
Bottom line: don't let age talk you out of smart tax planning, but don't overpay for the advice either. Run the numbers with a flat-fee adviser or tax pro, model out a few conversion scenarios, and decide based on math — not birthday candles. Continue reading at MarketWatch.com
