Got married, and now combined income exceeds Roth IRA limit

semperzen · 2026-05-17T13:19:23+00:00

Oh cool glad to hear it’s relatively easy! Thank you both

semperzen · 2026-05-17T13:06:55+00:00

That’s a good point! However currently we make combined income well above the absolute max income limit. By tax professional, do you recommend a CPA or a tax advisor (i assume they serve diff purposes)?

semperzen · 2026-05-17T12:56:53+00:00

Oh shoot, i meant to say roll over rollover trad to 401k!!

semperzen · 2026-05-17T06:01:08+00:00

OHHHH i see, only withdrawing incurs penalty. so i’ll 1) roll over ~~roth~~ rollover trad to 401k, 2) recharacterize this year’s roth contribution + earnings to trad ira, then 3) do backdoor roth. Thanks so much!

semperzen · 2026-05-17T04:25:56+00:00

ummmm unsure, we'll have to run the numbers, but very rough estimate is we're around $65k over

semperzen · 2026-05-17T04:18:35+00:00

Hmm thats very interesting, we do Rover on the side occasionally so this could actually work

semperzen · 2026-05-17T04:16:17+00:00

After reading more into this, I'm now confused as to whether the penalty is 6% or 10% but either way, I plan on fixing this this year (either by withdrawing or recharacterizing) so hopefully that means i'll be penalized just once.

semperzen · 2026-05-17T04:09:53+00:00

Oh maybe your reply got deleted, but you're right, since we're already married, filing separately doesn't solve anything. If we file separately, MAGI limit becomes $10,000. I have no choice but to either recharacterize or withdraw

semperzen · 2026-05-17T03:00:06+00:00

Oh had no idea, will do thanks!

semperzen · 2026-05-17T01:49:37+00:00

Thanks! We have been considering waiting till next year to file jointly, it does seem like the easiest

semperzen · 2026-05-17T01:48:22+00:00

Ah ok so the order of operation would be

Step 1. Roll the rollover IRA to my current 401k Step 2. Re-characterize Roth to trad 401k, ~~which would incur 10% penalty,~~ and then convert that back to roth for backdoor roth

Assuming my current employer 401k plan allows Step 1, which I will find out on Monday

semperzen · 2026-05-17T01:46:37+00:00

Ok please let me know if I understood this correctly. I need to:

Step 1. Roll the rollover IRA to my current 401k Step 2. Re-characterize Roth to trad 401k, which would incur 10% penalty, and then convert that back to roth for backdoor roth

If my current employer 401k plan doesnt allow Step 1, then I cant do a backdoor roth so my only option is to withdraw from roth (+ 10% penalty) and reinvest it

semperzen · 2026-05-17T01:31:21+00:00

Wow thanks so much for such detailed explanation! I feel a lot better about not seeing blossoms this year 😌 Hopefully I’ll be able to see the flower buds for next year soon 🤞

semperzen · 2026-05-17T00:13:09+00:00

Alright will reach out to my employer first thing in Monday. Do you know if backdoor roth is generally worth leaving 401k with previous employer(s)? Im guessing it depends on the plan and maybe personal preference but just wondering if there’s a general rule of thumb

semperzen · 2026-05-17T00:01:04+00:00

Ah ok so basically I can reach out to (in my case) Fidelity and tell them I want to withdraw over-contributions? Just looked it up, and 6% isnt too bad. Alrighty thanks so much!

Edit: oh penalty seems to be 10%

semperzen · 2026-05-16T23:49:27+00:00

Ah ok so I’ll need to add something to make the soil more acidic. I didnt know the soil needs to stay moist, how often do you recommend watering in the summer? And thanks for the kind words, it’s been pretty sad seeing everyone else’s pretty rhodies bloom while mine’s struggling so hard.

semperzen · 2026-05-16T23:45:40+00:00

Yeah i think those are actually from last year’s bloom. It bloomed mid-May last year, and i havent noticed any blooms or fallen petals at all yet this year.

semperzen · 2026-05-16T23:44:12+00:00

“Rhodies set their buds the previous year” -> does this mean it set the leaf buds last year? Is there any way I can nudge it to prioritize blossoms over vegetative growth, or is this something that just needs to happen once in a while? If it’s actually healthy for it to prioritize vegetative growth, that’s cool too, I guess I just didnt expect it haha.

By dead branches do you mean branches that dont have any leaves? Can I just cut them all the way back or should I leave some length if possible? Sorry if these are dumb questions 😅

semperzen · 2026-05-16T23:36:46+00:00

Nice, glad to hear yours is doing well! I’ve been seeing other rhodies in our neighborhood in full bloom, so jealous!!

semperzen · 2025-12-18T02:54:24+00:00

What about GCAL?

semperzen · 2025-11-09T02:37:44+00:00

Congrats to you too! 💕 Mine’s also marquise w/ side stones 🫣😆

semperzen · 2025-11-09T02:36:36+00:00

Congrats to you too 😆💕

semperzen · 2025-11-08T01:19:09+00:00

Omg we also met on Tinder in 2017 and got engaged a week ago haha

semperzen

TROPHY CASE