4 pages. Excerpt: There are four things that determine whether a Roth conversion is a good idea or not: 1. Whether and how Congress will change the Internal Revenue Code in the future. 2. Whether state taxes will change, either because of revisions in state tax laws or because of relocation to another state. 3. The total amount of taxable income, during the conversion vs. the future. 4. Everything else (impact of required minimum distributions, impact on heirs, etc.). Of these, the latter two can be hard to predict, but the first two are virtually impossible to predict. They are, all but literally, a spin of the roulette wheel.  MORE >>