Roth conversions aren’t about avoiding taxes — they’re about deciding when, how, and at what rate you’ll pay them. Too many people focus on the micro view: “How much tax will this cost me this year?” A better question is, “How will this decision impact my entire retirement?”

Strategic conversions can create decades of tax-free income, reduce or eliminate required minimum distributions, lower Medicare premiums and Social Security taxation, and provide insulation from future tax increases. Yes, there can be short-term friction — higher taxable income or temporary IRMAA surcharges — but for many households, those are time-boxed issues in exchange for long-term control, certainty, and tax-free wealth.

In this episode of Retirement GPS Radio, we dive into 5 high-level social security updates for 2026 and how they impact your social security decisions.

Through a case study, we explore how to make your social security potentially tax-free as well as leaving nearly 3X more to heirs while not sacrificing current life style.

When creating a retirement strategy, remember the acronym P.L.A.N.

Predictability - value predictability over potential

Low-correlation - strive include strategies and asset classes that do not require the market to perform in order for you to succeed

Alignment - ensure that each component of you strategy reinforces and compliments the others rather than (unknowingly) creating friction

Net-income - choosing tax-free/efficient strategies in place of tax-deferred/hostile strategies can be the difference between a retirement of plenty and one of scarcity

Also, follow along in our case study where we demonstrate P.L.A.N. in action and create 5 streams of tax-free income while increasing potential net-spendable income by 59%.