Shell-shocked by the stock market's recent collapse, many of your clients may not be in the mood to talk about much except the weather, let alone the advantages of reengineering their IRAs. But you may want to push them to have this talk. Experts say that the turn in the market presents new opportunities for investors. Outside of tax-loss harvesting, converting an ordinary IRA into a Roth IRA may be one of the few ways for an investor to profit from this year's miserable performance.

Unlike the ordinary 401(k) or the IRA, on which taxes are paid when proceeds are withdrawn in retirement, taxes for a Roth IRA are paid the year of the contribution. In a bull market, an investor might think twice before converting, especially since converted assets are taxed at the rate of ordinary income. But today's lower balances make it easier to switch to a Roth IRA and provide potential advantages down the road. "You're paying taxes on the seeds rather than the whole crop," says Paul Burkemper, president of the Burkemper Group, a St. Louis-based financial advisory practice.

Roth conversions aren't for everybody. Specifically, the IRS only allows contributions by individuals who earn less than $100,000 adjusted gross income and couples who report under $166,000.

Another important consideration is that the client should be able to pay the taxes on the converted assets from a source outside the account. If the money has to come from the IRA itself, the advantage of the switch is much lower, says John Nersesian, managing director of wealth management services at Nuveen Investments in Chicago. "The conversion makes sense most often when the investors have additional funds they can use to pay those taxes," he says.

Age, however, doesn't make that much of a difference. Younger and older savers alike can benefit from extra years of compounding in a Roth IRA; the young because they have more time until they retire, and the old because regular distributions aren't required as they are in an ordinary IRA. In fact, investors can even bequeath untouched Roth IRAs to children and grandchildren, who will still not need to pay taxes on that money.

Ironically, investors who already made an IRA conversion before the crash have an opportunity too-in the other direction. Rather than pay taxes on assets that have evaporated since they converted, they can turn their Roth IRA back into a regular IRA, according to Susan Hartman, a tax and estate-planning consultant for Raymond James in St. Petersburg, Fla. This shift-a "recharacterization" in tax-lingo-isn't very difficult, according to Hartman. "It's a very easy technique, just like conversion [to a Roth] is very easy," she says. The part that requires caution, she notes, is ensuring that the client's asset custodian, accountant and financial advisor all work together on the move. Also, it's not irrevocable. Next year, if conditions look more favorable, the client can try to convert the account again, according to Burkemper, this time at the lower tax level.

Beyond the prevalence of low account balances, there are other reasons a Roth conversion might make some sense this year. Perhaps the biggest is the possibility that sooner or later, tax rates will go up-an idea that doesn't seem too wild a bet, given the costs of wars, multi-billion dollar bailouts, and stimulus programs. "It doesn't matter to me who's in the White House," says Burkemper. "It's inevitable; taxes have to go up. The sooner we get [clients] into that Roth and their assets growing tax-free, the better."