There is an article that appears in the August 18, 2010 edition of the FA News that details what four of the preeminent IRA experts in the country are doing with their own IRAs. I thought it would be helpful to share the details of the article as well as intersperse my own commentary.

As estate planning attorneys, I have many clients that come to my office with fairly substantial to substantial amounts in their IRAs. In fact for some clients, it is their biggest single asset.

As many know, beginning in 2010, people with any income level can convert their regular IRA to a Roth IRA. With that in mind, FA News decided to poll four IRA experts.

Ed Slott, is probably the most famous to the general public of the four as he hosts a national show on PBS and has written at least four books on IRAs. He is a CPA by training, but now devotes himself to training financial advisors and others about IRAs. He is 56 years old and lives in New York.

He indicated to FA News that he converted nearly all of his six-figure IRA at the beginning of the year. He, with the assistance of an advisor, separated the funds into a half-dozen Roth accounts. This was done so that if one of the accounts had a loss in value he could recharacterize the fund as late as October 15, 2011.

He did leave a very small amount in his regular IRA so that in the event that he reversed a conversion he would already have an account open. This would reduce paperwork.

Natalie Choate has written a book on IRAs that I and many other estate planning lawyers as well as many tax attorneys keep on their bookshelf. She is 64 years old and practices law in Boston. She indicated to FA News that she switched a low-six-figure amount to just one Roth account in early July. By switching, she and anyone else who does so, starts the five-year clock. One of the rules is that before one can take tax free withdrawals from a Roth IRA, the owner generally must be 59 ½ or older and have had the account for at least five years.

Ms. Choate, while dreading paying the conversion taxes, is going to pay them this year. She indicates that writing a five figure check to the IRS has been keeping her up at night.

Seymour Goldberg is a retired college professor and an attorney who lives on Long Island. He, according to the article, will make a partial conversion of assets if the market decreases sharply. He has been earning nearly a 5% yield from a retirement account. To convert to a Roth would mean removing assets from this account, so he is being careful.

Finally, Robert Keebler is a CPA in Green Bay who lectures frequently to attorneys on IRAs and other tax issues. In fact I saw him speak just last week at an estate planning conference in Chicago. He has yet to do anything, but intends to convert about 20% of his retirement assets this year. He is leaving the rest in his accounting firm’s pension plan because he believes it provides better asset protection under Wisconsin law.

He too will work with his broker to convert during the market’s next tumble. He will time his state tax payments to make sure that they fall in the same tax year as his federal tax; he does want to trigger any alternative minimum tax the following year.

Four experts on IRAs and four slightly different answers when it comes to their own personal situations. Talk to your planner; to your CPA and to your estate planning attorney. Make an educated decision.

The only question I have is how will Goldberg and Keebler determine that the market has tumbled enough for them to convert?!!