by KYW's Salil Gutt

There is a financial decision that is creating a lot of buzz - to convert or not to convert to a Roth IRA in 2010.  The potentially high cost of conversion is causing people to think through this early in order to save for the impending tax bite.

Here's what happening.

Roth IRA's are tax free forever for you and your heirs, five years after you open your first IRA.  Currently if you earn in the six figures you cannot open a Roth. Congress, in its desperate quest for cash, has created a one time opportunity to convert existing IRA's into Roth IRA's regardless of how much income you earn.

In 2010 you can convert into Roth and pay the taxes in two chunks by spreading the taxable amount equally in calendar years 2011 and 2012.  The ideal way to benefit is to dip into your non-retirement savings to come up with the taxes.  If you are going to be in a lower tax bracket when you are retired then do not convert into the Roth.

The patter in favoring a conversion is the expectation that tax rates in the future will almost certainly be higher than current rates given the dire financial condition of the country .