I currently have an Traditional IRA (rolled over from a 401K, no comingled funds in this account), a roth IRA and my wife is about to leave her job to become a stay at home Mom. I would like to convert the IRA and my wife's 401K to Roth IRAs. I do not think I can afford the tax bite of converting my wife's 401K AND the IRA. My questions are as follows:

Can I convert portions of the IRA and 401K to a Roth IRA to spread the tax bite out over several years?

Can I ultimately merge all of these into ONE Roth IRA?

Can I invest the ROTH funds in equities as well as managed funds?

It is also my understanding that I cannot rolla 401K directly to a Roth, is that correct?

thanks in advance for any help.

Joe

1. You can convert only a portion to spread the tax over a number of years.

2. You can have one roth for you and another for your wife. You each need to have your own.

3. Invest in equities if you'd like.

4. You cannot roll directly from a 401k to a roth.

5. You're welcome

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Barry Picker, CPA/PFS, CFP
New York, NY

Barry,

Thank you very much for the information.

Joe