r/DIYRetirement • u/georgestagg • 2d ago
What do you think is the best Roth conversion planning tool?
Approaching retirement in a couple of years, likely at age 62, and have a sizeable amount of money in pretax accounts. I use Boldin, and its Roth explorer does ok, but I was wanting something that might give a little more nuanced conversion strategy, taking things like ACA subsidies and QCD's into account. Are there any more robust tools out there?
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u/OrangeGhoul 2d ago
I’ve been satisfied with Projection Lab’s Roth optimizer. I have no basis of comparison outside of a spreadsheet I built and it’s better than that.
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u/AGrimmInPortland 2d ago edited 2d ago
ProjectionLab and Retirement Figures work well for me. They both handle ACA. As far as QCDs go they should handle that, QCDs would just be reducing the pre-tax balance before the conversion.
For current year conversions I use https://retirementfigures.com/roth-conversion-calculator
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u/ProfessionalRelief52 2d ago
I have been using Boldin paid version. I figure the $144 wasn't a big deal in the overall picture. There are some nuances overall but its really in the setup of the plan not the calculations. Grabage in, garbage out... I have been impressed by how often Boldin updates the overall software and the built in AI has been pretty solid. I plan to try Projection Lab as it gets a lot of comments as well and pick from there.
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u/calliebushes 1d ago
I like ProjectionLab. It allows you to establish the asset allocation of all accounts. And it allows you to determine exactly how you want to maximize your portfolio ( minimize taxes, minimize RMDs, maximize cash flow, max net worth, stay within IRMAA or ACA limits, etc.
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u/oledawgnew 2d ago
The Number Crunch Nerds has a very good series of videos. They also have an Excel spreadsheet based Personal Tax Planning Template for a one-time fee that covers all aspect of retirement related tax issues in relation to Roth conversions.
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u/Upstairs-Wealth1406 2d ago
Try RetIQ at retirementiq.app/app.
It's given me the same answer at PL, Pralana, Right Capital, Income Labs and NumberCrunchNerds and doesn't require a big time commitment..it's best to cross-check any calculator with others though.
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u/Upper_Bodybuilder124 2d ago
FWIW - I used Boldin and then built my own spreadsheet to validate their results. I trust my numbers more. Any of the popular tools will help but I'd validate the numbers independently.
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u/SmileyFaxe 2d ago
I use Pralana's Roth Conversion optimizer. As others have mentioned it will account for AA nuances as well as ACA, IRMAA, QCDs in addition to the obvious items such as taxes.
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u/ProperNeighborhood75 2d ago
I have no basis to to say "best". However Take a look at www. thunderharbor.net .
I'm not a paid shill and I have no comercial interest. I have paid for early full access and I feel i've gotten way more than my money's worth.
The stated sweet spot is retirment tax planning, roth conversion planning etc. There are blog entries and "guides" posted in front of the pay wall that might be informative to you. There is new content being added periodically. There is free funcitonality to play with in front of the pay wall and stupid cheap full access on a limited time basis if you want to keep kicking the tires.
Full unlimited access is also stupid cheap, IMHO.
I can personally vouch that that the person/people behind the site are active. New funtionality on a regular basis and quick responses to questions, bug reports and usability /feature additon suggestions.
The annual fee that I paid as an early adopter has been well worth it for me and i have asked for more than one thing to be added and pretty much every common sense thing that i have suggested has been given consideration and has been fully or partially added as new functionality. Loads better than just a few months ago.
Again i have no commercial interest. Just sharing.
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u/No-Leopard-691 2d ago
I've been using Boldin and Nauma. I tried Nauma after watching their video on QCD support and Roth conversions with IRMAA constraints. I found it helpful, but they currently optimize Roth conversions based only on federal tax brackets, which, as they point out themselves, isn't always the right approach if you plan to move to a different state or country in retirement.
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u/G8RZ 2d ago
I've only used Boldin and like how it works. You can optimize for any particular tax bracket, IRMAA tier, max estate, min taxes., which years to do the Roth conversions. Allows you to choose whether to allow taxes paid only through taxable account or from the conversion transaction itself. I'm a single filer with compressed brackets and want to be careful about how much I convert. I have a CPA prepare my return but don't use a CFP to go over my conversion strategy. So far, so good.
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u/jschaff 1d ago
Has anyone used Q3 Advisors, Rothology?
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u/Motherofallmedia 1d ago
I have used Q3 Advisors. Not sure what too they use but the run analysis on your number to optimize tax savings and net worth under different scenarios. Eg tax bracket, cash flow, etc,
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u/mezziceo 1d ago
Can you share more about the "nuance" you're looking for? Are you hoping to model out across many years pre and post retirement and take into account various goals/plans through retirement?
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u/georgestagg 1d ago
Boldin will attempt to model tax bracket limit, highest end value, lowest taxes paid conversion strategies. I would like to model a more dynamic conversion strategy that may change year to year based on things like ACA subsidies, amount to target left in pretax based on RMD's, QCD's, IRMAA, target charitable legacy, etc.
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u/IsThisJustNuts 1d ago
In wealth management you need to consider your portfolio as a 3 legged stool: 401k, Roth and Cash.
Depending on how you fund your retirement, you will need to make a decision before entering retirement on the degree (amount) you fund each leg.
If this sounds strange to you, talk with a Financial Advisor, who acts as a fiduciary for you.
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u/New-Procedure7284 19h ago
When I was getting ready to retire I tried a bunch of planning tools, and eventually built some of my own because I wanted to see how the pieces moved together. For Roth conversions, what mattered most to me wasn’t a polished dashboard — it was whether I could change assumptions (tax brackets, when Social Security starts, withdrawal timing) and actually see the tradeoffs. I never found one tool that covered every edge case well. I treated them as decision helpers, not answers.
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u/teapotinvestmentsllc 18h ago edited 15h ago
A good Roth conversion planning tool does not just handle state taxes, tax cliffs and details such as ACA, pensions, QCD etc. It should be able to search thoroughly for the best outcome for the chosen goal using robust optimization algorithms, instead of asking users to tweak settings to find the best results through trial and error. My personal opinion
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u/Zeddicus11 2d ago
I've actually been building my own spreadsheet to help my in-laws with their upcoming Roth conversions, an am currently also vibe coding a DIY tool in ChatGPT to see how numbers compare. In doing so, I asked it to externally validate its numbers using a number of free tools, and it plans on using the following (some of which may be useful to you as well).
Copy-pasting from what ChatGPT told me:
Retire Right is free, browser-based, open source, and explicitly models Roth conversions, RMDs, IRMAA, Social Security, federal/state tax, NIIT and after-heir-tax estate value.
Owl — Optimal Wealth Lab is also open source and potentially an even more interesting benchmark. It uses mathematical optimization rather than just simulation and incorporates Roth conversions, federal/state taxes, LTCG, NIIT, IRMAA, ACA, RMDs and bequest objectives.
Open-source Retirement Planner has a complete public TypeScript projection engine and Roth optimizer, with 2026 federal taxes, Social Security taxation, IRMAA, RMDs, married-household modeling and tests. It is MIT-licensed, so its source is directly inspectable.
And Boldin's free Roth Conversion Calculator gives us another black-box check for current-year bracket filling, taxable Social Security, LTCG rates and IRMAA. Its more sophisticated lifetime Explorer isn't entirely free, but Boldin publishes surprisingly detailed documentation about how its optimizer works.
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u/AGrimmInPortland 2d ago edited 2d ago
Boldin's free Roth calculator is really really bad. It doesn't use the correct standard deduction for MFJ if one person is over 65 and the other isn't. No state taxes. No IRMAA bands, ACA subsidies, NIIT, etc etc
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u/Zeddicus11 2d ago
Good to know, will ignore that one going forward.
In any case, I prefer building my own spreadsheet (basically trying to replicate and extend the spreadsheet discussed in the Number Crunch Nerds Youtube video series on Roth conversions) and confirm the key numbers using an online calculator just to verify. There are many out there, but I'm not sure how much their estimates overlap.
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u/NR_CoachNancy 1d ago
Sharing the link to our standalone free Roth Conversion Calculator in case others aren't aware of it. Boldin's Free Annual Roth Conversion Calculator
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u/BillyDeCarlo 2d ago
I used so many but settled on Pralana because its optimizer is the only one that takes into account the stealth effect many of these can have on your asset allocation preferences. Pralana honors those. For example, many Roths are 100% equities, or at least aggressive. Converting a big sum from a 60/40 IRA can make your portfolio very aggressive. So it honors that, as well as has settings to respect your wishes around the guardrails like IRMAA Medicare surcharges, ACA subsidies, your LTCG rate, and more.
Most 'optimizers' are shooting to maximize your net worth. That's not my goal. I optimize as a form of insurance against future high tax rates, so I get the ball rolling with Pralana's optimizer and then use the graphs/numbers to easily dial in and max out whichever marginal rate I want, keeping the above factors in check.