🔹 Highest Estate Value Roth Conversion Strategy
Key Objective:
Maximize the gross estate value at death.
Mechanics: The optimizer finds the Roth conversion path that leads to the largest overall account value at the end of life.
Limitation: Because Boldin doesn’t tax-adjust the estate, this can overstate the benefit if a big traditional IRA balance is left behind (heirs will owe taxes).
How does the Highest Estate Value Strategy Compare to the Tax Bracket Strategy?
🔹 Boldin’s Tax Bracket Strategy
Objective: Minimize lifetime taxes paid by keeping conversions within a chosen bracket.
Mechanics: Each year, it recommends converting just enough to “fill” your bracket.
Strength: More closely tied to your lifetime after-tax spendable wealth, even if estate values aren’t maximized.
🔹 How They Differ
Feature | Highest Estate Value Strategy | Tax Bracket Strategy |
Primary Goal | Maximize gross estate value at death | Minimize lifetime taxes by filling a chosen bracket |
Tax Adjustment for Estate | ❌ Does not reduce estate for future taxes owed by heirs | ✅ Taxes considered annually in bracket-based conversions |
Conversion Pattern | May recommend large or uneven conversions to grow estate balances | Typically steady annual conversions up to bracket ceiling |
Key Assumption | “Bigger number at death = better” | “Keep yearly taxes manageable = better” |
Strength | Shows the maximum possible estate growth from Roth conversions | Keeps taxes predictable and avoids bracket creep |
Limitation | Can overstate legacy value (heirs still owe taxes on traditional IRA balances) | May not maximize estate size, since it prioritizes tax discipline |
🔹 Which is Better?
Highest Estate Value strategy will often show the estate growing larger, but it may not reflect reality for heirs because their tax burden isn’t included.
Tax Bracket strategy gives a more practical, tax-aware conversion plan, but the estate size it shows won’t necessarily be the “biggest number” on paper.
✅ In practice, most advisors look at both. The “estate value” view gives a ceiling on growth potential, while the “tax bracket” view keeps the plan grounded in real after-tax outcomes.