How an Inherited Roth Can Double in the 10-Year Window the SECURE Act Allows

Dave Ramsey, on the April 10 episode of The Ramsey Show titled “Start Telling Your Money Where To Go,” made the case for converting traditional retirement accounts to Roth as a legacy play:

“Let’s take a million dollars and they hold that seven years after you die because they don’t have to withdraw it under the Biden rule, it’s going to double. It’s going to be another million dollars. The million will be 2 million.”

The stakes for legacy-focused readers are concrete. Leave a traditional IRA to your kids instead of a Roth, and the SECURE Act forces them to drain it within 10 years, dragging those withdrawals through their peak earning years at ordinary income rates. Botch this on a seven-figure account and the IRS can claim 30% to 40% of what you intended to pass on.

The doubling math holds up, with one caveat

Ramsey is directionally right. The doubling math deserves a closer look.

Doubling $1 million in 7 years requires roughly a 10% compound annual return (the Rule of 72 puts the doubling time at 72 divided by the return rate). That sits near the long-run S&P 500 average Ramsey routinely cites, though it isn’t guaranteed.

At a more conservative 8% equity assumption, $1 million grows to about $1.71 million over 7 years. At 7%, you’d land near $1.61 million. The doubling claim sits at the optimistic end of a realistic range. I’ve been studying Roth conversion math for clients and family members for years, and the bigger win almost always sits in what doesn’t leave the account: taxes and forced annual withdrawals.

Why an inherited Roth crushes an inherited traditional IRA

Compare a $1 million inherited Roth to a $1 million inherited traditional IRA. Both accounts must be emptied within 10 years of the original owner’s death.

An inherited Roth carries no required annual withdrawal during those 10 years. The beneficiary can let it compound, then take the whole balance tax-free in year 10. Suze Orman put it cleanly on her podcast: “Roth IRAs do not have RMDs, so you get out of them even when it’s an inherited IRA.”

An inherited traditional IRA works differently. If the original owner had already started required minimum distributions, the beneficiary must continue taking annual RMDs based on life expectancy, and the entire account has to be wiped clean by the end of the 10th year. Every dollar comes out as ordinary income.

Now layer on the heir’s tax bracket. For 2026, single filers hit the 32% bracket on income over $201,775 and the 35% bracket over $256,225. Married joint filers hit 32% above $403,550.

Picture an heir in their late 40s earning $200,000 who inherits a $1 million traditional IRA. A $150,000 forced withdrawal stacks on top of that salary, pushing the top dollars into the 32% federal bracket, plus state tax. The same $150,000 pulled from an inherited Roth: $0 federal tax. Over a 10-year drawdown on a $1 million traditional balance, the cumulative tax bill on a high-earning heir can easily clear $300,000. The Roth heir keeps every dollar.

What legacy-focused parents should do now

Three concrete moves if passing wealth is the goal:

1. Run a partial Roth conversion ladder. Every year before RMDs kick in at 73, look at how much room you have left inside your current bracket. A 62-year-old sitting in the 22% bracket can fill that bracket with conversions each year and lock in a known tax rate, rather than gamble on what your heirs’ rates will be 15 years from now.
2. Model the heir’s tax bracket, not yours. A child in a high-earning professional career inheriting a traditional IRA can lose 35% or more to federal taxes alone. The same child inheriting a Roth loses zero. Ask each beneficiary their income range before you decide what to convert.
3. Use the 10-year clock as a feature. Instruct Roth beneficiaries to leave the account alone until year 10 unless they need the cash. Seven to ten years of untouched compounding at 8% to 10% inside a tax-free wrapper is the closest thing to free money the tax code offers heirs.

The case for Roth gets stronger as the account size grows and as your heirs’ tax bracket rises. Run the conversion math while you’re alive and healthy, because the SECURE Act has already decided how your heirs will handle the account after you’re gone. Ramsey’s million-to-two-million example is the picture; the conversion ladder is how you actually paint it.