I started investing last year after getting my first full-time job in retail at age 25, and I put small amounts into a brokerage account with index funds like VOO to build some savings. My take-home pay is around 40k a year, so I keep things simple with automatic transfers of 100 dollars a month, focusing on low fees and long-term growth without day trading or risky stocks. As I read more about retirement options, I opened a Roth IRA because contributions are after-tax, and withdrawals are tax-free later, which seems good for someone like me who might end up in a higher tax bracket down the road from career growth or inflation.
One worry I had was about required minimum distributions from traditional accounts forcing taxes in old age, so I tried out a [helpful financial tool](https://q3adv.com/) with an RMD calculator that showed me projections on how much I'd have to pull out yearly after 73 and the tax hit based on different savings levels. It helped me see that converting even small amounts to Roth now could cut future taxes without big upfront costs, especially since my current bracket is low. I ran numbers assuming 6 percent annual returns over 40 years, and it estimated saving a few thousand in taxes by avoiding RMD penalties or bracket jumps, which made me think about starting small conversions from a rollover IRA I have from an old part-time gig.
Now I'm wondering if this makes sense for total beginners or if I should just max the Roth contributions first before conversions. Has anyone here in their 20s done early Roth conversions and noticed real benefits over time? What other free tools have you used to plan for taxes in retirement?
