The good thing about Roth IRAs is that their growth over the years is totally tax-free and the funds do not have to be distributed according to any timetable; they can even be left for heirs. The not-so-good thing about Roths — besides the fact that they are not tax-deductible — is that there is an income limit for investing in them: $188,000 for a married couple.

For nearly 30 years, Mike Nickerson has owned and managed a small, full-service accounting practice in the Midcoast. He holds a bachelor's degree in accounting from University of Southern Main and a master's degree in financial planning from Bentley University.



He is a past board member and president of the Maine Society of Certified Public Accountants and currently serves on the Maine Board of Accountancy.

An aged rock musician, Nickerson now finds musical enjoyment playing upright and electric bass in a variety of bands spanning folk to jazz music genres. He and his wife have three grown children, and they enjoy their free time hiking, kayaking, golfing, bicycling and motorcycling.

But there is a way around this. An individual or couple can fund a nondeductible IRA and then convert it to a Roth, regardless of income. The tax bill for the conversion can be high if you have other IRAs, because the tax bill will be based on all of them. Traditional IRA balances are aggregated so that the amount converted consists of a prorated portion of taxable and nontaxable money.

This sort of conversion now is still worthwhile for many families with high incomes. Facing new limits on deductions and exemptions, higher tax rates and Medicare surtaxes, they will want to shelter their retirement funds in tax-favored plans like the Roth IRA.