As more companies eliminate or reduce their pension plans, people are taking closer and harder looks at their personal retirement saving options.

One possibility that appeals to owners of traditional IRAs is converting those savings to Roth retirement accounts. Right now, higher-income individuals can't take advantage of such a transfer, but that will change in a couple of years.

Be careful, though, whether you're considering a conversion now or down the road. While a Roth IRA has definite advantages for many people, it's not necessarily right for everyone.

And even if the move does make sense for you, you'll pay a price. There are ways, however, to manage the financial bite and ensure your IRA meets your retirement needs.

The price of change

If you started an IRA as soon as the option became available 33 years ago, for what we now call a traditional account, you'd likely have a nice nest egg. The one downside: When you start taking out money, much of it will be taxed. And it will be taxed at your ordinary income rate, which could be high as 35 percent, rather than the more favorable rates usually afforded investment income.

That's not the case with a Roth. Once you've held the account for five years, you won't owe the IRS

Want to invest in a green industry that employs the latest technology, reduces U.S. oil consumption and is priced very attractively? Look no further than the railroads. Laggards for decades after the 19th-century boom ended, they're hot again.

"There was steady traffic growth until last year, and the trend looks good once the economy gets back up to speed," says Kenneth Kremar, an economist who follows the railroad industry for consulting firm Global Insight. Perhaps that's why railroad stocks have largely escaped the battering that other sectors have taken so far this year.

Of course, their business could still be hurt temporarily if the economy deteriorates further. But eventually, says Kremar, "we'll see a pickup in demand, especially in the kinds of commodities railroads carry."

Astute investors are climbing aboard. Warren Buffett has been loading up on shares of Burlington Northern Santa Fe and was buying in January at prices only 13% below current levels. (News of his buying boosted the stock.) At last count, he owned more than 18% of the company.

The chief reason that the railroads' long-term prospects look so good today is that they began upgrading their operations soon after the industry was largely deregulated in 1980. "The railroads finally had an incentive, as well as the cash flow, to reinvest," says Robert E. Gallamore, a former Union Pacific