All articles
Every article we've published — the specific questions behind the pillar guides, answered in depth. Filter by topic, or start with the guides if you're new to a subject.
The Roth Conversion Ladder
Early retirement's tax play: convert a slice each year, wait out each rung's five-year clock, and reach your money penalty-free before 59½.
Read the article →Self-Directed Roth IRA
The rules, the custodian landscape, and why the Roth wrapper changes the math on real estate and other alternatives.
Read the article →Inherited IRA RMDs & the 10-Year Rule
How to calculate the RMD for an inherited IRA: which beneficiary regime you're in, the Single Life factor, the subtract-one method, and the year-ten deadline.
Read the article →Can You Have Multiple Roth IRAs?
Yes — but the annual contribution limit is one aggregate cap across every account. When a second Roth helps, and when it just adds cost.
Read the article →How to Avoid Taxes on Your RMD
The RMD itself can't be skipped — but seven legal moves cut the tax on it, from QCDs to gap-year conversions to bracket timing.
Read the article →Roth IRA Early Withdrawal Penalty
The order money leaves a Roth — contributions, conversions, earnings — the two separate 5-year rules, and every penalty exception.
Read the article →How to Avoid IRMAA
What counts as MAGI, why the brackets are cliffs rather than slopes, and how a Roth conversion bites two years later.
Read the article →IRMAA Appeal: Form SSA-44
The eight life-changing events, the proof SSA actually accepts, and why a Roth conversion is not one of them.
Read the article →Intangible Drilling Costs (IDC)
What IRC §263(c) lets you expense, why the working interest matters, and the risks a deduction never fixes.
Read the article →QCD From an Inherited IRA
Yes, you can — if you're 70½. How QCDs defuse the 10-year rule's tax squeeze on inherited accounts, with a worked example.
Read the article →QCD Rules for 2026: The $111,000 Limit
Why a QCD beats deducting the same gift under the new 2026 rules — and no, IRA charitable giving was not eliminated.
Read the article →Does a Roth Conversion Count as an RMD?
No — the RMD must come out first. The first-dollars-out rule, the age-73 trap, and how to fix the mistake.
Read the article →New to a topic? The pillar guides are the place to start.