New rules removing contribution miniums have led to a surge in Roth IRAs at major firms.

At Bank of America, conversions to Roth IRAs in the first quarter spiked to about 15,000, topping 2009's total of 8,000 for the whole year. Tax law changes involving income thresholds resulted in roughly 13 million U.S. households becoming newly eligible for conversion to Roths from traditional IRAs or 401(k)s.

It's the same story at Fidelity Investments, a leading provider of IRAs, which says conversions to Roth IRAs during the first quarter increased dramatically. Fidelity also credited its jump to the assistance of trained financial representatives and the availability of extensive online content and tools. The number of investors seeking guidance from Fidelity on Roth IRA conversions hit a record in the quarter.

"For many investors, the opportunity to consider a Roth IRA conversion is still new. We encourage all investors to do their homework, including a discussion with a tax adviser, before deciding to convert," says Chris McDermott, senior vice president, investor education, retirement and financial planning at Fidelity.

The recession also played a role in the mass conversion. "Many people unfortunately experienced a depreciation in assets, both personal and retirement, and with the tax law kicking in, many people decided that it made sense with their assets at a lower threshold to pay for the conversion now," says Chuck Toth, director of product management for personal retirement at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

The influx of baby boomers is also influential. "They are becoming more focused on retirement and what that means for them from a planning perspective," Toth says.

Overall, 2009 was a bad year for 401(k)s. The mix of job cuts, a recession and fear and uncertainty led to a 12% drop in 401(k) sales. After the onset of the financial crisis, many companies stopped matching employees' contributions, though many have since started again. Contributions to 403(b) plans increased by 1% last year.

As popular as the Roth IRA conversion seems to be, it is not without its detractors. "It's amazing to see how different tax advisors approach Roth conversions," says Thomas Joyce of Joyce Financial Management. "'A waste of time and money for anyone over the age of 50,' was one memorable quote."

Joyce says that many advisors believe taxpayers will convert now, only to find out down the road that the government will take away the benefits. "What we have found-as usual-is that there is no substitute for walking through the numbers on a case-by-case basis," he says.

Toth agrees, saying that what's important for individuals is they should look into the option and see if it's appropriate. "I think we're in the infancy of people starting to think about this," he says. "It's a new way of diversifying assets from a tax perspective, and it's interesting to see what thinking will come out in respect [to] developing liquidation and distribution strategies."