Traditional Ira to Roth Ira - Why Convert?

Converting Traditional Ira to Roth Ira is not difficult at all but you have to know what the rules are because failure to observe them may lead to losses. There are many reasons as to why one may wish to change a traditional Ira to a Roth Ira. They key is in understanding what the advantages are to each type of Ira.

A traditional Ira is a tax deductible retirement savings plan which means that once it is mature for withdrawal usually after retirement it will be taxed; this is good if taxes will be lower then so you will make some savings. Any profits that accrue from this savings by means of buying and selling of stock and other investments remain untaxed as long as they are not withdrawn.

With the Roth Ira taxes are paid upfront but any withdrawals after retirement are not taxed including any profits from investments and assets. This is good if taxes will be high at your retirement. There are other reasons to consider before converting a traditional Ira to a Roth Ira.

Changing a traditional Ira to a Roth Ira is also called rollover. The main reason most people will choose to make a rollover to a Roth Ira is because it has no minimum limits when the time to make withdrawal come. For most people that are retiring or wish to pass over their assets to heirs it is the most convenient way to do it. With the traditional Ira, there are limits as to how you can withdraw per year.

All the amounts and assets in a Roth Ira are eligible for distributions and there is no minimum age set to start distributions unlike the traditional Ira that must start at the age of 70 ½, so your money grows for a longer time. Bear in mind though that you will need to pay taxes on the Ira portion of your retirement package once you decide to make the roll over except if you made non-deductible contributions into the traditional Ira that you are converting.

A Roth Ira is a good shelter if you have a big enough estate as you can include it in the Roth Ira and in this way you will have access to more of it or your heirs will instead of a traditional Ira where estate and savings will be taxed at withdrawal or distribution. With the traditional Ira the estate will be put together with the Ira savings and taxed as income tax and you will be forced to make withdrawals as from the age of 59 ½.