We are not going to get Railroad Retirement (SS) until FRA, 66 and some months, maybe 70, for 2 reasons.
1.That gives us 8 years to convert our tIRA to Roth, and pay the income tax.
2.We can do #1 without paying income tax on the RR. We will keep the conversion amount under the limit that Medicare costs more.
Looks like we will always pay income tax on our RR, which we just consider evidence of doing well.
We will be paying the taxes those years with the thought that one of us is going to have to file as a single, so paying the tax those 8 years, since we can do it, seems prudent.