Few IRA questions

[Leo]

1. From what I heard you can convert Traditional IRA to ROTH IRA. As a young guy, should I go with Traditional IRA and get the tax benefits now and convert to ROTH IRA? Or just go with ROTH IRA and get the tax benefits later?

2. Can I rollover my 401k to my spouse IRA when quitting or losing a job?

3. Let say I contributed max ROTH IRA this year, but before the end of the year, can I withdraw it then contribute to another Traditional IRA instead?

4. Can I convert ROTH IRA to Traditional IRA?

5. Can I transfer my Traditional IRA to my spouse Traditional IRA?

My apology for my silly questions.

[puck36]

1. Yes you can covert Traditional IRA to Roth IRA. You just need to pay the taxes for the conversion. Make sure you pay the taxes outside of the IRA. Yes you should always do a Roth IRA.

2. No you can not. You can rollover your 401k to an IRA or I believe to your new job 401k.

3. Why would you do that? It all depends on how long you had the Roth IRA if you could take what you put in out.

4. You could but why.

5. No. You would have to withdraw money from yours and give it to your spouse.

[Petunia 100]

1. From what I heard you can convert Traditional IRA to ROTH IRA. As a young guy, should I go with Traditional IRA and get the tax benefits now and convert to ROTH IRA? Or just go with ROTH IRA and get the tax benefits later?

2. Can I rollover my 401k to my spouse IRA when quitting or losing a job?

3. Let say I contributed max ROTH IRA this year, but before the end of the year, can I withdraw it then contribute to another Traditional IRA instead?

4. Can I convert ROTH IRA to Traditional IRA?

5. Can I transfer my Traditional IRA to my spouse Traditional IRA?

My apology for my silly questions.

#1. There is no one-size-fits-everyone answer to this question. You definitely want enough taxable income in retirement to fill up your 0% tax bracket, probably your 10% and 15% brackets too. If you don't have a pension, rentals, ownership in a business, or substantial dividend income, that means money from tax-deferred accounts.

And what will the tax situation be when you retire? Will our current laws have changed?

It might make the most sense to do both.

#3. If you have changed your mind about the sort of contribution you made, you can contact your custodian and say that you wish to recharacterize your contribution.

[MakeAStash]

1) Use Traditional when your tax rate now is higher than you believe it will be when you withdraw. Use Roth (not an acronym) otherwise.

2) Only by dying.

3) That involves a recharacterization, and has various limits that you can search.

4) Except as #3, no.

5) Only by dying.