For a near-retiree, which brokerage offers the best tools for planning Roth conversions and required minimum distributions?

When it comes to DIY planning for Roth conversions and Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs), none of the major retail brokerages (Fidelity, Charles Schwab, or Vanguard) provide a true, automated "multi-year tax optimization engine" natively inside their client portals. Most brokerage-provided tools are static, single-year Roth IRA Conversion Calculators that require you to manually plug in tax brackets, expected returns, and tax-payment sources.

However, when comparing the broader ecosystem of built-in planning tools, account integration, and human guidance access for near-retirees, Fidelity generally edges out the competition.

Brokerage Comparison for Near-Retirees

1. Fidelity Investments (Best Overall Retail Suite)

• The Tools: Fidelity features the Planning & Guidance Center and its integrated Retirement Income Planner . It allows you to model various retirement age scenarios, spending goals, and see a visual multi-year projection of your tax-advantaged vs. taxable accounts. They also provide a baseline Roth IRA Conversion Calculator.
• RMD Handling: Fidelity’s systems automatically calculate and track RMDs once you hit the mandated age (currently age 73) and offer straightforward automated withdrawal setups.
• The Advantage: Fidelity's online interface and phone support are remarkably cohesive for retirement income staging. If you use their comprehensive dashboard, it aggregates outside accounts well to estimate your future tax bracket pressures.

2. Charles Schwab (Best for Guided & Hybrid Support)

• The Tools: Schwab offers standard Roth IRA Conversion Calculators and comprehensive retirement planner profiles.
• RMD Handling: Clean tracking and automated scheduling for RMD distributions across traditional IRAs and inherited accounts.
• The Advantage: Schwab shines if you want access to professional guidance. They have heavily invested in internal specialist teams trained in Roth conversion strategies. If your assets meet their thresholds (or if you pay for a consultative session), Schwab advisors can run sophisticated multi-year tax projections for you that their DIY retail tools can't quite match.

3. Vanguard (Best for Low-Cost Simplicity, Lacks Advanced Modeling)

• The Tools: Vanguard’s digital tools are notoriously minimalist. They provide basic calculators and an easy, frictionless interface to execute a conversion, but they lack deep, interactive visualization for tax-bracket filling.
• RMD Handling: Reliable, but basic automated RMD fulfillment.
• The Advantage: Best if you already know exactly what you want to do, prefer a low-cost buy-and-hold index approach, and intend to use external software for the heavy lifting.

The Reality Check: Use Third-Party Software for Precision

Because brokerage tools are inherently conservative or overly simplistic regarding multi-year tax optimization (e.g., filling up specific tax brackets up to the 12% or 22% edge safely before RMDs spike your income), serious near-retirees typically pair their brokerage with dedicated software.

If you want true optimization for Roth conversions and RMD mitigation, consider supplementing your brokerage account with standalone tools like:

• ProjectionLab: An exceptionally powerful, modern DIY financial planning platform featuring dedicated Roth conversion optimization and custom drawdown sequencing.
• NewRetest / Boldin: Highly regarded by the DIY retirement community for modeling custom tax-bracket filling and RMD forecasting over a multi-decade horizon.

To help narrow down the best setup, could you tell me:

• Are you managing this fully on your own (DIY) or looking for advisory/hybrid help?
• Roughly how many years do you have until retirement and until RMD age?

For a near-retiree whose priority is Roth-conversion and RMD planning, I’d put Fidelity first, with Vanguard and Charles Schwab close behind.

My ranking

1. Fidelity Investments — best overall

Fidelity has the strongest combination of Roth-conversion, RMD, retirement-income and Social Security tools. Its current toolkit includes a Roth conversion calculator, RMD calculator, and broader retirement-planning tools that let you examine different withdrawal strategies. CNBC Select also currently rates Fidelity as its best overall retirement-planning tool.

Most importantly, Fidelity's Roth-conversion calculator lets you compare the estimated tax cost of converting now with potential future tax savings.

I'd choose Fidelity if: you want to do substantial planning yourself and want your retirement accounts, projections and transactions under one roof.

2. Vanguard — excellent for advisor-led planning

Vanguard is particularly attractive if you want a human advisor to build a multi-year tax strategy, rather than simply using calculators. Its strength is less about having the slickest DIY interface and more about combining retirement-income decisions with tax-efficient investing.

I'd choose Vanguard if: you're willing to pay for advice and want someone to coordinate Roth conversions, Social Security, withdrawals and investment strategy.

3. Charles Schwab — excellent alternative

Schwab has strong retirement resources and particularly good customer support and account-management infrastructure. Its platform also provides broad investment research and planning capabilities.

I'd choose Schwab if: you already like Schwab or want a combination of strong self-service tools and access to advisors.

The bigger issue: brokerage vs. tax-planning software

There's an important distinction here. A brokerage's calculator can tell you things like "What happens if I convert $75,000 this year?" But the optimal strategy for a near-retiree is usually more complicated:

• How much can you convert while staying in a particular federal tax bracket?
• What happens to Medicare IRMAA premiums?
• How will conversions affect taxation of Social Security?
• How much will future RMDs be at age 73/75 and beyond?
• What happens after one spouse dies and the survivor becomes a single filer?
• Should you convert more in the years between retirement and Social Security/RMDs?
• Should charitable giving use QCDs rather than Roth conversions?

That's why I'd actually consider Fidelity + dedicated tax/retirement-planning software or a good tax advisor a stronger combination than relying on any brokerage's calculator alone. Current retirement-planning comparisons likewise distinguish Fidelity's broad brokerage tools from specialized planning platforms.

Bottom line: If you're picking a brokerage specifically for this purpose, Fidelity is my first choice. If you're looking for the best overall Roth-conversion strategy, though, I'd use the brokerage as the execution platform and do the multi-year tax modeling separately.

If you tell me your age, approximate traditional IRA/401(k) balance, expected Social Security/pension income, filing status, and state, I can show you what I'd want the brokerage's Roth-conversion/RMD tools to model—and which one is likely to be most useful for your situation.

I'd choose Fidelity if: you want to do substantial planning yourself and want your retirement accounts, projections and transactions under one roof.

2. Vanguard — excellent for advisor-led planning

Vanguard is particularly attractive if you want a human advisor to build a multi-year tax strategy, rather than simply using calculators. Its strength is less about having the slickest DIY interface and more about combining retirement-income decisions with tax-efficient investing.

I'd choose Vanguard if: you're willing to pay for advice and want someone to coordinate Roth conversions, Social Security, withdrawals and investment strategy.

3. Charles Schwab — excellent alternative

Schwab has strong retirement resources and particularly good customer support and account-management infrastructure. Its platform also provides broad investment research and planning capabilities.

I'd choose Schwab if: you already like Schwab or want a combination of strong self-service tools and access to advisors.

The bigger issue: brokerage vs. tax-planning software

There's an important distinction here. A brokerage's calculator can tell you things like "What happens if I convert $75,000 this year?" But the optimal strategy for a near-retiree is usually more complicated:

When it comes to built-in brokerage tools for planning Roth conversions and Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs), Fidelity Investments and Charles Schwab stand out as the industry leaders for self-directed near-retirees.

The top brokerages compare as follows for retirement decumulation and tax planning:

• Fidelity Investments is widely regarded as having the most intuitive, comprehensive suite of digital planning tools for individual investors. Through their Retirement Income Planner and interactive tax-bracket visualization tools, you can model multi-year Roth conversion strategies, look at how conversions impact your future tax brackets, and project RMD impacts alongside Social Security. Fidelity also offers strong human advisory integration if you want a professional to sanity-check your digital modeling. You can explore their tools directly via the Fidelity Retirement Planning Center.
• Charles Schwab provides robust analytical calculators, including a detailed Schwab Roth IRA Conversion Calculator that factors in marginal tax brackets, opportunity costs of paying taxes from outside accounts, and bracket-bump warnings. Their platform excels at portfolio-level income projections, though their standalone multi-year tax-optimization tools feel slightly less fluid than Fidelity's.
• Vanguard leans heavily into a clean, low-cost indexing philosophy. While they offer solid basic RMD and distribution functionality, their advanced multi-year Roth optimization calculators (like their BETR tool) are often oriented toward advisors rather than everyday retail self-service users.
• Specialized Third-Party Software: If you want deep, hyper-optimized tax bracket filling (maximizing the space in your current tax bracket down to the dollar over a 10-to-20-year horizon), even the best brokerages fall short of dedicated independent software. Many near-retirees pair their brokerage accounts with dedicated platforms like Boldin (formerly NewRetirement) or Income Lab , which pull in your brokerage data and run sophisticated Roth-conversion decumulation algorithms.

To help narrow down the best fit, could you tell me:

• Are you managing your investments entirely on your own , or do you anticipate using a hybrid/advisor service?
• Do you already have your assets parked at one of these brokerages, or are you willing to transfer accounts?

For a near-retiree specifically focused on Roth-conversion and RMD planning, I’d put Fidelity first, with Schwab a close second and Vanguard third.

My ranking

Why Fidelity gets the edge

Fidelity has a particularly broad collection of retirement tools. Its Roth Conversion Calculator estimates the immediate tax cost and potential long-term account impact of different conversion amounts.

More importantly for someone approaching retirement, Fidelity combines that with:

• RMD Calculator, including estimates for accounts held outside Fidelity
• Retirement Distribution Center for managing distributions and RMD calculations
• Retirement Strategies Tax Estimator, which compares taxable vs. tax-free withdrawal strategies
• broader retirement-planning tools incorporating income, assets and spending
• Social Security and other retirement-income calculators

That combination is valuable because the real question isn't merely "What will my RMD be?" It's:

How much should I convert each year before RMDs begin, while avoiding unnecessarily high tax brackets and potentially reducing future RMDs? Fidelity's tools come fairly close to letting a DIY investor examine that whole chain.

One important limitation

I wouldn't choose a brokerage solely on its Roth-conversion calculator. These calculators generally aren't sophisticated enough to optimize a complicated 10–20 year conversion strategy involving:

• federal tax brackets
• state taxes
• Social Security taxation
• Medicare IRMAA
• capital gains
• charitable giving/QCDs
• future RMDs
• surviving-spouse tax brackets
• estate/inherited-IRA considerations

Fidelity itself cautions that its calculator is an educational tool rather than a substitute for tax or financial planning.

Also, an RMD cannot itself be converted to Roth. You must take the RMD first; then you can convert additional traditional IRA money.

My practical recommendation

If you're choosing a brokerage because you're approaching retirement, I'd do this:

Fidelity for the brokerage + a dedicated tax-planning tool or CPA for the actual conversion strategy.

That gives you the best of both worlds: Fidelity's account/RMD infrastructure plus more sophisticated multi-year tax modeling.

If you tell me your age, approximate traditional IRA/401(k) balance, expected Social Security, pension income, and filing status, I can also show you what I'd want the brokerage's Roth-conversion planner to model year-by-year—including RMDs and Medicare IRMAA.

When it comes to in-house digital planning tools for Roth conversions and Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) , major retail brokerages take different approaches. Most traditional self-service platforms provide calculators to crunch basic numbers, but they generally stop short of dynamic multi-year tax optimization.

1. Fidelity Investments (Best Overall In-House Suite)

• The Tools: Fidelity offers a robust Roth IRA Conversion Calculator alongside their comprehensive Retirement Income Planner tool and dedicated RMD Calculator.
• Why it stands out: Fidelity’s planning interface allows near-retirees to model cash flow, visualize tax brackets over time, and see how a multi-year conversion strategy affects future RMDs and overall portfolio longevity. Their interactive planning view integrates outside accounts well, giving a more holistic picture of your taxable vs. tax-advantaged buckets.
• The drawback: Like most free retail tools, it doesn't automatically account for nuanced triggers like Medicare IRMAA surcharges or complex state-specific tax nuances dynamically year-over-year.

2. Charles Schwab (Best for Guided & Automated Execution)

• The Tools: Schwab features a clean Roth IRA Conversion Calculator and an easy-to-use RMD Calculator.
• Why it stands out: Schwab excels at the operational side of retirement distributions. Once you reach RMD age (73), Schwab’s Retirement Distribution Center cleanly automates calculations, tracking, and recurring or partial withholding distributions across multiple accounts. Their digital tools are straightforward if you want clear, step-by-step math without heavy clutter.
• The drawback: The calculators are mostly point-in-time or single-scenario estimators rather than holistic, multi-year forward-looking tax engines.

3. Vanguard (Best for Basic Estimates, Watch the Defaults)

• The Tools: Vanguard provides retirement income modeling and online conversion calculators.
• Why it stands out: It handles basic break-even analysis cleanly.
• The drawback: Vanguard’s tools (such as their older "BETR" calculator framework) have drawn criticism from financial planners because their default settings—such as assuming you will pay conversion taxes from outside taxable cash rather than from the IRA itself, or projecting unrealistic time horizons—can easily skew results to look universally favorable.

The Reality Check: Brokerage Tools vs. Dedicated Software

If you are mapping out a high-stakes, multi-year decumulation strategy (balancing tax brackets, avoiding the "tax torpedo," managing Social Security taxation, and dodging Medicare IRMAA cliffs), free retail brokerage tools are generally too rudimentary.

For advanced planning, near-retirees often use specialized third-party software or work with a fee-only fiduciary who utilizes institutional software like:

• HolistiPlan or Maxifi : Deep tax-planning software that reads tax returns and maps out exact Roth conversion dollar amounts to fill up specific tax brackets.
• ProjectionLab : A modern, highly customizable financial planning tool for modeling custom Roth conversion pipelines and cash flows.

If you'd like, let me know:

• Roughly how much you have in tax-deferred accounts vs. taxable/Roth accounts
• Your target retirement age

I can help you outline a custom framework or point out specific tax thresholds to watch out for.

For a near-retiree, Charles Schwab is probably the best overall brokerage if your priority is hands-on planning around Roth conversions and RMDs. Vanguard is a close second, particularly if you want more sophisticated tax-aware retirement advice, while Fidelity is worth considering if you want a broad retirement-planning ecosystem.

My ranking

1. Charles Schwab — my pick for most near-retirees

Schwab has unusually good coverage of the specific decisions you're asking about. Its planning center includes separate calculators for Roth conversions and RMDs, plus its Schwab Plan can model retirement scenarios and stress-test the probability of meeting your goals.

More importantly, Schwab has an RMD Center that goes beyond calculating the number: you can see your RMD status and actually schedule distributions online.

2. Vanguard — potentially best for sophisticated tax-efficient planning

Vanguard has an especially interesting option if you're willing to use its advice service. Its Tax-Efficient Retirement Strategy analyzes thousands of projections and considers Social Security timing, Roth conversions, and other retirement-income decisions together rather than treating a Roth conversion as an isolated calculation.

Its standalone tools are somewhat less comprehensive than Schwab's for RMDs: Vanguard specifically highlights an inherited-RMD calculator, retirement-income tools, and retirement-expense planning.

3. Fidelity — excellent all-around alternative

Fidelity has a strong retirement-planning ecosystem and sophisticated retirement-income planning capabilities. Its planning platform is particularly attractive if you want to combine investment management, retirement-income planning, and professional guidance in one place.

4. E*TRADE — good DIY choice, but not my first choice for this particular problem

E*TRADE has both a Roth IRA Conversion Calculator and a retirement-readiness calculator, and it provides retirement-planning resources and the ability to link outside accounts. E*TRADE But its tools aren't as integrated around the Roth-conversion/RMD/tax-planning problem as Schwab's.

The important distinction

For someone approaching retirement, I wouldn't choose based simply on "Who has the best Roth conversion calculator?"

The better question is:

Who can help me determine how much to convert each year while considering future RMDs, tax brackets, Social Security, Medicare premiums, and the tax consequences for my spouse/heirs? That's where Schwab and Vanguard pull ahead.

If I were choosing specifically for this purpose, I'd lean:

Schwab → best combination of calculators + actual RMD implementation + human assistance.

Vanguard → potentially better if you're looking for a sophisticated, tax-efficient retirement strategy and are comfortable using its advisory service.

One caveat: brokerage calculators are planning tools, not tax advice. For a large conversion, I'd want the brokerage's projections checked against a tax projection—especially because the optimal conversion amount can depend heavily on your filing status, Social Security timing, Medicare IRMAA thresholds, charitable giving, and the size of your traditional IRA/401(k).

If you tell me roughly your age, filing status, traditional IRA/401(k) balance, Roth balance, expected Social Security, and approximate annual retirement spending, I can show you what I would want a brokerage's Roth-conversion/RMD tool to model and which of Schwab vs. Vanguard vs. Fidelity is likely to fit you best.

For a near-retiree, Fidelity is my pick for the best overall brokerage for Roth-conversion and RMD planning, particularly if you want to do much of the planning yourself.

My ranking

1. Fidelity — best overall

Fidelity has an unusually complete collection of retirement/tax tools:

• Roth Conversion Calculator — estimates the tax impact and compares conversion scenarios.
• Retirement Strategies Tax Estimator — helps evaluate different withdrawal strategies and their tax consequences.
• RMD Calculator — including estimates for accounts held outside Fidelity.
• Retirement Distribution Center — for Fidelity customers, it brings together your RMD calculations and planned withdrawals.
• Planning & Guidance Center — broader retirement projections incorporating income, spending and assets.

That combination matters because Roth conversions shouldn't really be planned in isolation. Ideally, you're asking: "How much should I convert each year while I'm in a relatively low tax bracket, and how does that affect future RMDs, Social Security taxation, Medicare premiums and the size of my taxable estate?"

Fidelity gets closest among the major DIY brokerages to giving you all those pieces in one ecosystem.

2. Vanguard — potentially better if you want an advisor

Vanguard becomes particularly attractive if you don't just want calculators but want someone/system to construct a multi-year tax strategy around your retirement.

For a hands-on investor, however, I'd still give Fidelity the edge because its self-service tools are more extensive.

3. Schwab — excellent alternative

Schwab is a strong choice if you already prefer its platform or want advisor involvement. Its retirement-income capabilities can incorporate Roth conversions into a broader distribution strategy; its advisor platform, for example, explicitly supports tax-optimized distributions and Roth conversions.

The important caveat

None of these brokerages is a substitute for dedicated tax-planning software or a good CPA/financial planner. The really valuable question for a near-retiree isn't simply "What is my RMD?" It's something more like:

"Given my projected income for the next 15 years, Social Security, Medicare, taxable investments, IRA balances and future RMDs, what Roth conversion amount minimizes my lifetime household tax?" That analysis can involve tax-bracket management, IRMAA Medicare surcharges, Social Security taxation, survivor/widow tax brackets, charitable giving/QCDs and the eventual tax treatment of inherited IRAs. A basic brokerage calculator won't optimize all of those simultaneously.

Also, if you're already 73+, Fidelity notes that an RMD for the year generally has to be taken before converting additional IRA money to Roth; the RMD itself cannot be converted.

Bottom line: If I were choosing a brokerage specifically for a near-retiree who wants to manage Roth conversions and RMDs, I'd choose Fidelity first, Schwab second, Vanguard third—unless you specifically want an advisor-driven tax strategy, in which case I'd look harder at Vanguard or a good independent fiduciary advisor.

If you tell me roughly your age, traditional IRA/401(k) balance, Roth balance, taxable investments, expected Social Security/pension, and whether you're married, I can also show you which brokerage's tools are likely to be most useful for your particular conversion strategy.

Fidelity Investments offers the best overall ecosystem and tools for a near-retiree planning Roth conversions and Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs).[1]

While most self-directed brokerages only offer basic, static calculators, Fidelity provides an advanced, interactive simulation engine that links directly to your real-time portfolio data. This allows you to visually model how today's tax choices will affect your long-term retirement security.[1]

📊 Direct Comparison of Major Brokerages

💡 Why Fidelity Wins for Near-Retirees

Fidelity's digital tools outpace the competition because they focus on retirement income sequencing rather than just generic math:[1]

• The "Gap Year" Planner : The tools are explicitly built to leverage the retirement "gap years"—the golden window between when you stop working and when Social Security and your RMDs officially kick in. [1]
• Dynamic Bracket Filling : Fidelity's tool models how much you can convert each year to maximize the current federal tax brackets (such as filling up the 12% or 22% brackets) without accidentally spilling into a higher tax tier. [1][2]
• RMD Reduction Trajectory : It visually charts how strategic Roth conversions today will mathematically shrink your pre-tax IRA balances, successfully lowering your mandatory RMD liability when you hit age 73 or 75. [1][2]

⚠️ Critical "Hidden Costs" to Watch For

No matter which platform you select, online tools often omit high-stakes financial variables. When using brokerage tools, manually account for these cross-currents:

🛠 Third-Party Specialized Alternatives

If you find brokerage tools too restrictive, consider utilizing dedicated personal financial planning software:

• Boldin (formerly NewRetirement): Features a consumer-facing Roth Conversion Explorer . It runs custom algorithms to recommend specific annual conversion targets based on minimizing lifetime taxes. [1][2]
• MaxiFi Planner : Uses a powerful Roth Conversion Optimizer that calculates exactly how much to convert over a 5-to-15-year window to maximize your lifetime safe spending. [1]

To help narrow down the best solution, let me know:

• Approximately how many years do you have until your RMDs begin?
• Do you plan to do these conversions yourself , or are you looking for an advisor to manage the tax strategy?
• Are you worried about conversions bumping you into higher Medicare premiums (IRMAA)?

When it comes to free, built-in brokerage tools for planning Roth conversions and Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs), Fidelity Investments generally edges out the competition for do-it-yourself near-retirees.

Major brokerages approach retirement tax planning differently. An overview of how the top platforms compare highlights their specific strengths:

1. Fidelity Investments (Best Overall In-House Tools)

• The Tools: The Fidelity Planning & Guidance Center and their interactive retirement income planner.
• Why it stands out: Fidelity allows you to model comprehensive "what-if" scenarios, specifically visualizing how drawing down traditional pre-tax accounts, taking Social Security, and implementing systematic Roth conversions impact your lifetime tax bracket.
• RMD & Conversion Handling: Their tools project future RMD obligations and help you identify the "tax-bracket space" available between your current income and the next tax threshold, making it easier to calculate optimal annual conversion amounts. You also get access to human guidance or specialized reps if you meet asset thresholds.

2. Charles Schwab

• The Tools: Schwab IRA Calculators including their dedicated Roth IRA Conversion Calculator and RMD Calculator.
• Why it stands out: Schwab provides clean, straightforward, standalone calculators to test the math on a single conversion or estimate future RMDs.
• The limitation: Schwab’s calculators tend to be more transactional/single-event focused rather than integrated into a dynamic, multi-year lifetime income and tax-optimization engine like Fidelity’s dashboard.

3. Vanguard

• The Tools: Vanguard Retirement Income Planner and digital advice services.
• Why it stands out: Vanguard is traditionally strong on low-cost investing and basic portfolio income projections. However, their self-directed digital tools are more conservative and less agile for granular, multi-year tax bracket hacking (like mapping out aggressive pre-RMD Roth conversion ladders).

The Catch with All Brokerage Tools

Even the best in-house brokerage calculators (Fidelity included) are generally conservative or limited when it comes to edge cases like avoiding IRMAA (Medicare high-income surcharges), multi-state tax nuances, or complex legacy/estate planning.

If you want hyper-optimized, multi-year modeling that explicitly minimizes lifetime tax burdens and maps out exact conversion limits down to the dollar, many advanced self-directed planners bypass the brokerage entirely and use dedicated third-party retirement software like ProjectionLab or Boldin (formerly NewRetirement), which connect to your accounts or allow manual data entry for superior tax optimization.

To help narrow down the best setup, tell me:

• Are you managing your investments entirely on your own , or do you expect to use a hybrid/advisor service?
• Do you have a specific target age for when you want to stop working versus when you plan to claim Social Security?

For a near-retiree, Fidelity would be my first choice if the deciding factor is the quality of tools for Roth-conversion and RMD planning.

My ranking

1. Fidelity — best overall

Fidelity has an unusually good collection of tools that work together:

• Roth Conversion Calculator — compares the tax cost of converting now with potential future tax savings.
• Retirement Strategies Tax Estimator — lets you examine different withdrawal strategies and their current-year tax effects.
• RMD Calculator — calculates required distributions from tax-deferred accounts.
• Retirement-income and Social Security planning tools, which are important because the optimal conversion amount isn't determined by the IRA balance alone.

Fidelity also has particularly good educational material on the interaction between conversions, future RMDs and taxes. Importantly, it notes that an RMD due for the current year must be taken before you convert additional IRA money to Roth.

2. Vanguard — strong for conversion analysis

I'd give Vanguard serious consideration if you're less interested in managing investments yourself and more interested in tax-efficient retirement strategy with professional guidance.

Its strength is that Roth conversions can be evaluated as part of a broader retirement-income strategy rather than merely asking, "How much tax will I pay if I convert $100,000?"

3. Schwab — excellent alternative

Schwab is a strong choice, particularly if you want a combination of good retirement tools and access to human support. Its overall self-directed platform is also very robust.

The bigger issue: brokerage tools aren't enough

For someone approaching retirement, I'd actually distinguish between "best brokerage" and "best Roth-conversion planning system."

A good conversion analysis should model at least:

• annual Roth conversions until RMD age
• federal and state marginal tax brackets
• Social Security taxation
• Medicare IRMAA thresholds
• future RMDs
• investment growth
• whether conversion taxes are paid from taxable assets
• survivor/spousal tax consequences
• charitable giving/QCDs
• your projected spending and withdrawals

A brokerage calculator generally won't optimize all of those simultaneously. Fidelity's own calculator, for example, cautions that it is an educational tool rather than a substitute for tax or financial planning.

Bottom line: If you're choosing a brokerage specifically for this purpose, I'd pick Fidelity. If you're willing to use a dedicated retirement-planning program alongside your brokerage, the brokerage becomes less important—and you can choose based on investment costs, customer service, and account features instead.

If you give me your age, approximate traditional IRA/401(k) balance, filing status, expected retirement income, and state, I can show you what a good Roth-conversion/RMD analysis should look like and whether Fidelity, Schwab, or Vanguard is the better fit.

Schwab is a strong choice, particularly if you want a combination of good retirement tools and access to human support. Its overall self-directed platform is also very robust.

The bigger issue: brokerage tools aren't enough

For someone approaching retirement, I'd actually distinguish between "best brokerage" and "best Roth-conversion planning system."

A good conversion analysis should model at least: