Retirement Tax planning

[Anonymous]

I have most my savings in my retirement accounts. 50 yo now and have $1.2 million, adding the max allowed each year and also have 10% company match. How to plan for retirement taxes ? I looked at my RMD projections and taxes will be insane. What do you do to minimize your retirement taxes? Also I would like to leave something to my kids. Dh is 54 and has about same amount in his 401k.

[Anonymous]

A lot of people convert their retirement accounts to Roths but you pay the taxes now and not when you retire. You can donate up to $100k from the RMD to charity to reduce your RMD taxable income but you don’t get a charitable deduction. With retirement accounts sooner or later taxes get paid.

[Anonymous]

I wish I had done this when I was your age.

Roths are your friend. The easiest is to start making all your contributions Roth now. With a lot more planning, decide on when you are retiring and delay taking social security, possibly pension if you have one, one to do the conversions at a low tax bracket.

The planning for future Roth conversions is quite complicated. You have to figure our how you pay the taxes on the conversions (you generally don't want to fund taxes through the proceeds you are taking out of the 401k) and you have to mind Medicare IRMAA and net investment income tax.

If you are generally DIY you can get software like New Retirement to map this out. Or you can hire a financial advisor for help on just this one issue.

In any case, you are at a really good age to start tackling this.