Forbes: ” I was a guest on an estate planning radio show recently when a listener from Traverse City, Mich., phoned with an eye-opening question. ‘Do I have to convert a traditional IRA to a Roth to make it a ‘stretch’ IRA?‘ she asked. The short answer is: Absolutely not. But what a wake-up call! It made me realize that, with all the talk this year about Roth conversions, plenty of well-informed people are understandably confused about this issue.