If IRAs Had Oscars…
Announcer: And the award for Best Type of Account to Help John Doe in Retirement goes to…
…the Roth IRA!
Roth IRA: I… I… I don’t know what to say. I mean this is all so unexpected. I’d like to thank John Doe for believing in me when no one else would. I mean, he had CPAs tell him that he was crazy. He had friends tell him that he was crazy. He had family tell him that he was crazy… They all told him the same thing; “Why? Why would you possibly pay so much tax before you have to? It doesn’t make any sense.”
But John didn’t listen to any of that. Late last year, he converted his traditional IRA to the Roth IRA. Now he’s going to have a zero-percent tax rate on these funds when he retires, and he’s no longer subject to those ridiculous required minimum distribution rules.
This is a victory for all those out there who’ve ever said that future tax rates will be higher and the time to get rid of that risk is now. This is the time when…
Announcer: Ummm… I’m so sorry. This is all a bit embarrassing, but it appears that there’s been some sort of a mix-up. It seems that Traditional IRA has actually won the award for Best Type of Account to Help John Doe in Retirement.
Traditional IRA: Well, I guess you never know what’s going to happen. When John Doe made that conversion, I thought it was over. I thought it was done. But I just kept believing, deep down, that somehow, some way, our paths would cross again. And here we are now, just months from John Doe’s conversion, and sticker shock on his tax bill has led to a recharacterization and the funds are back with me.
I’d like to thank Congress, for creating such an incredible provision as recharacterization that would allow a simple account like me to, after as long as 21 ½ months, see the return of funds that had previously been converted to a Roth IRA. I’d like to thank the custodian that, even though I no longer held any funds, allowed me to remain open, making the recharacterization process that much simpler.
This is not just a victory for me, but a victory for all those who wish to defer taxes for as long as possible! Thank you!
Warren Beatty: I’d just like to explain. You see, when they handed me John Doe’s account statement…