09/05/2026
There's a window between retirement and age 73 that could save you hundreds of thousands in lifetime taxes and many people miss it completely.
Here's what happens at 73: Required Minimum Distributions force you to withdraw from your 401k or IRA whether you need the money or not. At age 73, the RMD is 3.77%… but that increases every year. By age 80 it’s 5%. And by age 85 it’s 6.5%.
Those withdrawals get taxed as ordinary income and can push you into higher brackets, increase Medicare premiums, and trigger taxes on your Social Security benefits. If you did everything right and maxed out your 401k or IRA during your working years, RMD’s could mean you’re paying more in taxes in retirement than you ever paid when you were working.
BUT, between retirement and age 73 you might be in the lowest tax bracket of your lifetime. You likely have no work income, Social Security hasn't started and RMDs haven't kicked in yet. This is your window of opportunity to move money from "forever taxed" to "never taxed again" with the right Roth conversion strategy.
The strategy is simple. Convert just enough each year to fill up your current tax bracket without jumping to the next one. Spread it over multiple years. Pay taxes now at today's lower rates instead of higher rates later.
At Lifeworks, we model your specific situation including income sources, tax brackets, medicare impact, and social Security timing, with the goal of minimizing your lifetime taxes, not just this year's bill.
Want to see how this strategy could work for you? Let's talk.
𝘓𝘪𝘧𝘦𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘴 𝘈𝘥𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘳. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘱𝘶𝘳𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘵𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘦. 𝘐𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘶𝘢𝘭 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘷𝘢𝘳𝘺.
𝘙𝘔𝘋 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘹𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘐𝘙𝘚 𝘜𝘯𝘪𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮 𝘓𝘪𝘧𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘛𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘷𝘢𝘳𝘺. 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘶𝘭𝘵 𝘢 𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘢𝘹 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘰𝘳 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘨𝘺.
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