Clear Money Guide
What this guide covers
A quick view of the questions and evidence developed below.
Updated July 31, 2026. Quick answer: the Roth IRA income limits do not apply to 529-to-Roth rollovers. A graduate earning far past the MAGI phase-out — who cannot contribute to a Roth directly — can still receive the full annual rollover from a seasoned 529. For high-earning young professionals it is a small, legal side door into Roth space that exists nowhere else except the backdoor contribution.
A blocked front door makes the side doors valuable.
Coordinating rollovers, backdoor contributions and a 401(k) is standard adviser work. The matching service below introduces you to advisers who pay to meet you.
Before you start, what actually happens. The form is run by Kapitalwise, our advisor-matching partner. Kapitalwise sends your details to advisers who pay for the introduction, so expect calls and texts. Clear Money Guide is paid when you submit the form, whether or not you ever hire anyone. This is free to you and there is no obligation to hire anyone.
The Kapitalwise form opens here — you stay on this page.
What happens when you press the button
It asks about nine questions — age, investable assets, location — then your name, email and phone number, and verifies the phone by text. Nothing loads and nothing reaches Kapitalwise until you press the button.
How to actually use it
The beneficiary still needs earned income at least equal to the rollover (a high earner clears that trivially) and the account must pass the 15-year test. The interplay with the shared annual limit matters here in reverse: a MAGI-blocked beneficiary CANNOT use the limit on her own contributions anyway — so the 529 rollover uses room that would otherwise be wasted. That makes high-income years the best rollover years, the exact opposite of the usual intuition. (For the same person, compare the backdoor Roth she may also be running: the pro-rata calculator — the two coexist fine; they use different doors.)
More Roth Strategy guides: see the full 99-page index.