Out of debt - What next?

[graystubble]

Hello, I've been reading MMM for awhile but only recently managed to pay off all debt minus my mortgage.  I have a 401K and a separate IRA from a pension rollover but all my savings to date has gone to retirement accounts and a Dave Ramsey emergency fund.  I have 1 kid in college and 1 in high school and I'm 45 years old.  I'm struggling with 2 things.

1. I can't retire early of all my money is tied to IRAs.  How much should I be putting into an individual investment account that can start paying me before I'm 59.5?
2. My IRA from the pension rollover is a standard IRA.  Should I convert it to a Roth?  I'll definitely be in a lower tax bracket after I retire.


What tools would you suggest to determine if I already have as much as I need in IRAs?  Would it be better to just fill out a request for a case study? I

[wordnerd]

https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/investor-alley/how-to-withdraw-funds-from-your-ira-and-401k-without-penalty-before-age-59-5/

[former player]

https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/investor-alley/investment-order/

[MDM]

Hello, I've been reading MMM for awhile but only recently managed to pay off all debt minus my mortgage.  I have a 401K and a separate IRA from a pension rollover but all my savings to date has gone to retirement accounts and a Dave Ramsey emergency fund.  I have 1 kid in college and 1 in high school and I'm 45 years old.  I'm struggling with 2 things.

1. I can't retire early of all my money is tied to IRAs.  How much should I be putting into an individual investment account that can start paying me before I'm 59.5?
2. My IRA from the pension rollover is a standard IRA.  Should I convert it to a Roth?  I'll definitely be in a lower tax bracket after I retire.

What tools would you suggest to determine if I already have as much as I need in IRAs?  Would it be better to just fill out a request for a case study? I

graystubble, welcome to the forum.

Organizing your overall information along the lines of How To: Write a "Case Study" Topic, including use of the spreadsheet mentioned there, with your investments organized similar to Asking Portfolio Questions - Bogleheads.org, is worthwhile.  It's worthwhile whether you decide to post or merely use it for your own consideration.

Regarding question #2: waiting until you retire and are in that lower tax bracket before converting to Roth is likely favorable.

[graystubble]

I just realized I never posted a thank you to the folks who replied to me. I apologize for the oversight. We took the investment order and put it into action. We moved down the list far faster than I expected.  I haven't been able to fully find my 401k yet but we're making progress. Thank you so much for the responses and I apologize for tardiness of my response.

[MDM]

I just realized I never posted a thank you to the folks who replied to me. I apologize for the oversight. We took the investment order and put it into action. We moved down the list far faster than I expected.  I haven't been able to fully find my 401k yet but we're making progress. Thank you so much for the responses and I apologize for tardiness of my response.

Congratulations on progress so far and best wishes for more to come!

[midwesterner1982]

I just wanted to chime in and thank MDM, Arebelspy, boggleheads, and anyone I left out for putting together the Investment Order post. It's simple and to the point and it just makes a ton of sense to me.  I share it with people all the time.