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☕ DrinkCoffeeAndProfit
Smart money moves before breakfast
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Inspiration Quote for the Day
“Long-range planning does not deal with future decisions, but with the future of present decisions.”
Peter Drucker
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The Morning Ritual
The Retirement Move That Has No Undo Button
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Sixty nine days. That is what is left of this year’s window for moving money out of a traditional IRA into a Roth. Most people assume they have until April, the way an IRA contribution works. That is a different deadline attached to a different thing.
A conversion has to clear by December 31. And since 2018 there is no way to take one back. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act removed the rule that once let people reverse a conversion. Whatever you do this December stands.
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In One Sip
► A Roth conversion must settle in the Roth account by December 31, 2026, to count for this tax year
► There is no April extension. That applies to contributions, not to conversions
► Conversions made from 2018 onward cannot be reversed, after the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act removed recharacterization
► Each conversion starts its own five year clock on January 1 of the year you convert
► Your 2026 income sets your 2028 Medicare premium, because the surcharge looks back two years
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A word from a partner before the math.
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· · · Partner Message · · ·
On December 14, President Trump will gather the leaders of the world’s largest economies at his private Miami resort.
The pieces are already falling into place:
A flurry of executive orders... billion-dollar government stakes in obscure mining companies... a landmark pact with 13 nations... and a special agreement signed by six billionaire tech moguls.
At Trump’s December summit, those pieces could finally be assembled in public for the first time, and a new kind of dollar presented to the world as a done deal. Whether you are a Republican or Democrat, whether you support this monetary shift or oppose it, you could soon be using Trump’s New Dollar.
That is why I have produced this critical new documentary revealing:
Why I believe Trump is desperately trying to reset America’s money...
Why this has nothing to do with Bitcoin or gold, but is tied to the most valuable resource of the 21st century...
And three moves I believe you can make today to prepare, including the name and ticker of the investment I believe could benefit as this shift unfolds.
Good investing,
Porter Stansberry
This is an advertisement.
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Why It Matters for Your Money
Start with the bracket. In 2026 the 22% band runs to $211,400 of taxable income for a married couple filing jointly.
Say yours lands at $180,000. That leaves $31,400 of room before the next dollar costs 24%. Convert exactly that and the tax is about $6,908.
Convert $40,000 instead and the last $8,600 gets taxed at 24%, which adds roughly $172 you did not have to pay.
Then check the second line. The Medicare surcharge tier for a couple starts at $218,000 of modified income. One dollar over moves you a full tier for all of 2028, on Part B and Part D, for both of you.
That is the part that catches people. The bracket is a ramp. The surcharge is a step.
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The Wealth Angle
Now the detail almost everyone misses. Each conversion carries its own five year clock. That clock starts on January 1 of the year you convert, not on the day itself.
Convert on December 31 this year and the clock is treated as starting January 1, 2026. It finishes January 1, 2031.
Convert two days later, on January 2, and it finishes January 1, 2032.
Two days of delay, one extra year before the converted money is free to come out without a penalty on the earnings.
My read: the calendar matters more than the market here. People spend December arguing about whether prices are right and lose a year on a date.
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One more partner message before today’s move.
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· · · Partner Message · · ·
Editor’s Note: When the market crashed 37% in 2008, Larry Benedict made $95 million for his clients. Now he is sounding the alarm on oil. He warns that high oil prices could strangle the U.S. economy. Yet where others see disaster, Larry sees one of the biggest opportunities in 40 years, and a way for regular folks to profit without owning a single oil stock.
Have you seen this guy before?
When the stock market crashed 37%, this man made $95 million for his clients.
While everyone else was panicking, he was cashing in.
Now he is turning to oil. And he says it is one of the biggest opportunities he has seen in 40 years.
Lauren Wingfield
Managing Editor, The Opportunistic Trader
This is an advertisement.
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· · · Partner Message · · ·
And with America’s national debt now past $40 trillion, investors have been moving into scarce assets like gold amid concerns over debt, inflation and the dollar.
This is an advertisement.
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☕ Key Insight:
The contribution deadline is April. The conversion deadline is December 31 and it is final. One of them gives you a second chance and the other does not, and the two get mixed up every single year.
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Coffee Break Move
Add up what your 2026 taxable income will actually be. Include dividends, capital gain distributions and any required distribution you still have to take.
Take that required distribution first, before you convert anything. The order matters and the custodian will not sort it out for you.
Then wait a couple of weeks. The IRS publishes the 2027 brackets in late October, and Medicare publishes the 2027 surcharge tiers in November. Then you know what you are aiming at.
Start the paperwork in early December, not the last week. Custodians run slowly at year end, and a form that misses December 31 lands in the wrong tax year.
A contribution can wait until April. This one cannot, and it does not come back.
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