Congratulations on your BigLaw salary. The government has decided you're too rich for a Roth IRA.
In 2025, single filers with modified adjusted gross income above $165,000 can't contribute directly to a Roth IRA. The limit for married couples filing jointly is $246,000. As a BigLaw associate making $225,000 your first year out of law school—and more every year after—you're locked out.
This is annoying. Roth IRAs are genuinely great: your money grows tax-free, withdrawals in retirement are tax-free, and there are no required minimum distributions forcing you to take money out. It's one of the best deals in the tax code, and Congress decided you don't get to have it.
Except there's a backdoor. A completely legal, IRS-approved, widely-used backdoor that high earners have been walking through since 2010. It takes about an hour to set up the first time, fifteen minutes a year after that, and lets you enjoy Roth benefits despite making "too much" money.
If you're not doing this, you should be.
The two-step dance
The backdoor Roth isn't a special account or a loophole your tax attorney discovered. It's a simple two-step process that exploits a gap Congress left in the tax code—probably by accident, but they've had fifteen years to close it and haven't.
Step 1: Contribute to a traditional IRA
Here's the thing: anyone with earned income can contribute to a traditional IRA. The income limits only affect whether you can deduct the contribution—not whether you can make it.
As a high earner, your contribution won't be deductible. You're putting in money you've already paid taxes on. This feels pointless. Keep going.
Step 2: Convert to a Roth IRA
There are no income limits on Roth conversions. None. A billionaire can convert a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA whenever they want.
When you convert, you normally owe taxes on the amount converted (because traditional IRA money is usually pre-tax). But you just contributed after-tax money. There's nothing to tax. You've effectively walked after-tax dollars into a Roth IRA through the back entrance.
Congress could close this door anytime. They've talked about it. The Build Back Better Act in 2021 would have killed it. But as of now, in early 2025, the door remains open. Walk through it.
Actually doing this: a step-by-step guide
Let's get specific. Here's exactly what to do.
1. Open a traditional IRA
If you don't already have one, open a traditional IRA at whatever brokerage you prefer—Fidelity, Schwab, Vanguard, wherever. Takes fifteen minutes online. You'll need basic information: Social Security number, bank account for transfers, beneficiary designation.
If you already have a traditional IRA with pre-tax money in it, stop here and read the pro-rata section below. This is important.
2. Contribute cash
For 2025, the limit is $7,000 ($8,000 if you're 50 or older). Transfer this from your bank account to the traditional IRA. Leave it sitting in cash or a money market fund. Don't invest it in anything yet.
You can do this anytime during the calendar year, or up until April 15 of the following year. January is a good time to get it done and forget about it.
3. Wait briefly
There's no legally required waiting period before converting. Some people convert the next day. Some wait a week. Some wait until they get the next monthly statement showing the contribution.
The ultra-cautious approach is to wait long enough that the contribution and conversion appear on separate statements, creating a clear paper trail. The practical approach is to wait a few business days and then convert. The IRS has never specified a required waiting period, so this is a judgment call.
Don't wait so long that your cash earns significant interest or you're tempted to invest it. You want to convert before any meaningful gains accrue.
4. Convert to a Roth IRA
Log into your brokerage account and look for "Roth conversion" or "convert to Roth" under transfers or account management. You're moving money from your traditional IRA to your Roth IRA. If you don't have a Roth IRA at that brokerage, the conversion process will usually open one automatically.
Convert the full amount. If your $7,000 earned $3.47 in money market interest while it sat there, convert $7,003.47. You'll owe taxes on the $3.47. That's fine.
5. Invest the money
Now that the money is in your Roth IRA, invest it according to your overall plan. Low-cost index funds are fine. Target-date funds are fine. Whatever you'd normally do. The money will now grow tax-free for the rest of your life.
6. Handle the paperwork
This part is slightly annoying but not hard.
When you file your taxes, you'll report the non-deductible traditional IRA contribution on Form 8606. Your brokerage will send you a 1099-R showing the conversion. The 1099-R will probably show the full conversion amount as taxable, which looks alarming, but Form 8606 corrects this by accounting for your non-deductible basis.
If you use tax software, it will walk you through this. If you have a CPA or tax preparer, just tell them "I did a backdoor Roth" and they'll know what to do. If they don't know what that means, find a new tax preparer.
The pro-rata trap (read this part)
This is where people mess up.
If you have any pre-tax money sitting in any traditional IRA—including SEP-IRAs, SIMPLE IRAs, or rollover IRAs from old jobs—the IRS treats all your traditional IRA money as one combined pool when you do a conversion.
Example of the trap:
You rolled over $93,000 from a previous employer's 401(k) into a traditional IRA a few years ago. That's all pre-tax money.
Now you contribute $7,000 non-deductible for a backdoor Roth. Your total traditional IRA balance is $100,000: $93,000 pre-tax (93%) and $7,000 after-tax (7%).
When you convert $7,000 to a Roth, you don't get to pick which dollars you're converting. The IRS applies the ratio. Your $7,000 conversion is deemed to be 93% pre-tax ($6,510) and 7% after-tax ($490).
You owe taxes on $6,510. The backdoor didn't work.
How to avoid this:
Get your traditional IRA balance to zero before doing the backdoor. The cleanest way is to roll your traditional IRA into your current employer's 401(k). Many BigLaw plans accept incoming rollovers. Check with your HR department or benefits portal.
Once the pre-tax money is tucked away in your 401(k), your traditional IRA is empty. Now you can contribute after-tax dollars and convert them cleanly.
What if your 401(k) won't accept rollovers?
This is less common at large firms but it happens. Your options:
- Accept the pro-rata tax hit (not ideal, but the backdoor still has some value)
- Wait until you change jobs and roll everything into the new employer's plan, then start doing backdoors
- Consult a tax professional to see if there's a creative solution for your situation
The point is: check your existing IRA balances before you start. If they're not zero, deal with that first.
Questions you probably have
Is this actually legal?
Yes. Completely. The IRS knows people do this. Tax professionals recommend it routinely. Congressional Democrats have tried to eliminate it several times, but as of 2025, it remains fully legal.
The "backdoor" name makes it sound sketchy. It's not. It's just a two-step process that achieves something the one-step process doesn't allow.
Should I do this every year?
Yes. Every January, calendar a reminder: "Do backdoor Roth." Contribute $7,000, wait a few days, convert. Fifteen minutes, done for the year.
My spouse doesn't work. Can they do this too?
Yes, if you file jointly. It's called a spousal IRA. As long as the working spouse has enough earned income to cover both contributions, each spouse can contribute $7,000 to their own IRA and do their own backdoor conversion. That's $14,000 per year into Roth accounts for a married couple.
I keep hearing about a "mega" backdoor Roth. Is that the same thing?
No—that's a different and even more powerful strategy involving after-tax contributions to your 401(k). It requires your employer's plan to have specific features. We cover it in a separate article. The mega backdoor can let you put away $70,000+ per year in tax-advantaged accounts. But start with the regular backdoor first.
Do I need a financial advisor for this?
Probably not, if your situation is straightforward (no existing traditional IRA balances, simple tax situation). The mechanics are not complicated. If you have a complex situation—self-employment income, multiple IRAs, previous non-deductible contributions you forgot about—it might be worth a one-time consultation to make sure you're not stepping in the pro-rata trap.
Why this matters for your specific situation
The backdoor Roth is especially valuable for BigLaw attorneys:
You're locked out from day one. First-year associates making $225,000 already exceed the income limits. Without the backdoor, you'd never have access to Roth IRA benefits during your entire BigLaw career.
You have time on your side. If you're 27, money you put in a Roth today has nearly four decades to grow tax-free. At 7% average returns, $7,000 becomes roughly $105,000 by age 65. Tax-free.
Your tax future is uncertain. Maybe you make partner and your income doubles. Maybe you leave for government and it drops by half. Roth money is flexible—it doesn't care what your future tax bracket is because you already paid the taxes.
It's one of the few advantages you still have. High earners get phased out of most tax benefits: education credits, student loan interest deductions, IRA deductions, direct Roth contributions. The backdoor is one of the few good deals left. Use it.
The bottom line
Every year you skip the backdoor Roth is a year of tax-free growth you don't get back. It's not a lot of work. It's not complicated once you understand it. And over a twenty-year career, it can mean an extra several hundred thousand dollars in retirement savings that will never be taxed again.
Open the IRA. Make the contribution. Do the conversion. Your future self—the one who's maybe a little tired and would really like the option to stop working—will be grateful you did.