A worked example
A two-year income gap
Dana, 55, single, earning $120k with $500k pre-tax and $200k in a brokerage account — and a layoff on the horizon.
“What if I'm out of work for two years starting next year? And what does converting $40k a year during that gap look like?”
What the projection shows
Where the spending shortfall is covered from (which accounts are drawn down), how far the marginal bracket falls in the gap years, and what converting during those years does to lifetime tax versus riding the gap out.
What the projection also found
Nothing here was left blank. These follow from the figures above, under the assumptions this example states.
- The $40,000 converted this year lifts income past the top of the 0% band, so $16,403 of gains and dividends that cost nothing are taxed $162 — no bracket changed, so no bracket table shows it.
The planner arrives with this household already filled in. Change anything — the balances, the ages, the assumptions — and run it as yourself.
A projection under stated assumptions, not financial or tax advice.