When my daughter was young, I needed to make sure that nothing bad would happen to her or my family, and the dividend income from my portfolio provided an important financial backstop. Though I never needed that income, I was happy to pay taxes on my dividends, knowing that I could easily access the cash in an emergency.

My daughter is in college now, and I no longer have the same financial needs. Here's how I'm using my Roth accounts to make sure I pay as few taxes as possible going forward.

There are different types of tax-advantaged retirement accounts. In one, typified by a traditional IRA, you put pre-tax dollars into the account and reduce your current income by the money you save. You are, therefore, saving on the taxes today. However, all of the income that you withdraw from the account in retirement is taxable. A Roth IRA basically flips that script. 

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Source Fool.com