TchrP said: You can have both Roth and traditional IRAs at the same time. You can also have any number of IRA accounts.

What you can't do is contribute more than a total of $2,000 (or your qualifying income, if less than $2,000) to all of them combined, per tax year.

So it is perfectly feasible to stop contributing to your traditional IRA, leave it as a traditional IRA (that is, no conversion), and begin contributing to a new and separate Roth IRA. There is also an income ceiling for Roth IRA contributions, but it is higher.

Just to comment about the income ceiling for Roth IRAs being higher. It is true that a tax-deductible traditional IRA has a lower income ceiling than a Roth IRA. However, one can contribute to a traditional IRA without the tax deduction at any income level. The benefit being tax-advantaged growth within the IRA.

messerb