[Rain Man]

I'm not doing a backdoor Roth, but I'm planning to do some Roth conversions, and I discovered something weird.

I'm 60, and working part-time now. My wife has also been doing some part-time stuff. When you add in dividends and some other income, our marginal tax rate is not low enough to warrant doing conversions this year.

In another year or so, my income and tax bracket will tank as my wife and I completely stop working. It'll stay that way until I'm 69. At that point, my wife will be getting Social Security and our Required Minimum Distributions will kick in. Then my Social Security will kick in the following year. So our marginal tax rate will jump up to about the same level that it is now.

I've always had the impression that my tax bracket would decline in retirement, but it'll only decline for about 8 years. So I have to do a lot of tax maneuvering during those eight years because it's my best shot.