Which One - Roth or Traditional?

School of Personal Finance
338 followers
11 Video Views·Apr 11, 2025
Ever wondered which retirement account is best for your future—Roth or Traditional? In this lunchtime showdown, we break down the pros and cons of BOTH options, so you can confidently choose the path that aligns with your financial goals!
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How should you determine to invest in a Roth IRA or a Roth 401k versus a traditional IRA or a
traditional 401k? It really all comes down to your tax bracket and tax diversification. So,
if you are in a 22% or below tax bracket, then I like to go with Roth IRAs, Roth 401ks, Roth
403Ds. In Roth, that means that you are paying taxes now, investing the money, and then it will
grow tax-free forever. If you are above a 24% tax bracket, then I like to go traditional IRA,
traditional 401k, traditional 403D, and that means you are getting the tax deduction now. Now,
if you're in that tax bracket, you can't really do a traditional IRA because you make too much
money to take tax deduction. Now, if you're in the 24% tax bracket, then I think you could go
either way. And what I like to look at is your tax diversification. What that means is how much
money do you already have in traditional accounts, in pre-tax accounts, versus how much do you have
in never-taxed accounts like a Roth IRA or an HSA account? What do you have in taxable accounts,
in brokerage accounts? So this makes up your tax diversification, and everybody's situation
is different. But this is just the framework on making the decision, how should I be saving for
the future? Should I be doing it in traditional, or should I be doing it in Roth?
