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How well do you understand required minimum distributions (RMDs), which the IRS describes as 

My wife and I are about 10 years from retirement. We want to begin converting money in our individual retirement accounts to a Roth IRA, but the tax bite looks like a problem. We’re already in a higher tax bracket than we like. Any advice? When, or how, should we start converting?

Willie Delwiche, investment strategist for All Star Charts, says that the messy, sloppy range-bound market that we've seen since February is going to continue sideways for a while but ultimately will resolve itself to the upside, confirming a consolidation that is healthy for the long term. 

House Democrats proposed a rule to forbid Roth conversions for the wealthy as part of a broad package of tax increases on affluent Americans.

But there’s an irony in the proposal, according to tax experts.

Employers are increasingly offering a valuable retirement-saving tool to workers. In addition to traditional 401(k) plans, about 8 in 10 workplaces now let workers invest in a Roth 401(k), up from just 37% that offered the option in 2010, according to a recent survey from investing research firm Callan.

Many Americans are using a previously little-known tax method to boost their savings. Now, the government is trying to stop it.

The tax strategy at issue is the mega-backdoor Roth conversion and it has allowed some Americans to amass sizable balances in tax-free Roth retirement accounts. On Sept. 15, the House Ways and Means Committee approved legislation from House Democrats that would prohibit use of the mega-backdoor Roth conversion starting Jan. 1, 2022.

This week Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee voted to advance dozens of proposed tax changes. Some are tax increases that would raise more than $2 trillion of revenue to help fund the party’s priorities.

Also proposed is an outright ban on the “mega backdoor Roth” conversion using workplace retirement plans, which allowed high-income Americans to put $58,000 into a Roth account this year. If passed, that proposal would be effective next year.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal’s plan to usher in several changes to individual retirement accounts “will not likely see much pushback because most people will never have to worry about their IRA balances exceeding $20 million,” IRA and tax specialist Ed Slott of Ed Slott & Co. told ThinkAdvisor late Monday in an email. “And the few who do will easily move on to the next workaround that Congress has not yet thought of.”