Originally Posted by Irishguy
Originally Posted by 2Dogs
Originally Posted by jmj120
If I were a young man I’d start a ROTH.

If a 401k is offered through my employer , I'd at minimum invest enough to get all the company match. Roths are great , leaving free $ on the table isn't.

Nothing wrong with a Roth, but depending on his age and his expected taxable income in retirement, a Roth may make less sense than just maximizing his contribution to his 401k.

We started late in life, and for us the Roth didn't make sense. I was still able to retire at 62 with plenty of money and in our first year of retirement my total federal taxes at the end of the year averaged out to be 8%. So a Roth would not have done me any good really.

Sure... with a Roth, you don't get taxed on the money when you take it out, but you put in less to begin with, because it's after tax dollars, plus a Roth doesn't help you with taxes while you are still working and need to lower your taxable income. I've made spreadsheets looking into this and also looked at other projections and the same money placed in a Roth and a traditional 401k, work out almost the same at the end of the day. Point being, a Roth is not the panacea that most people think it is.

If you are really young and expect to be a high income person in your retirement years, then yes, max out the Roth early on. If you are middle aged, with no debt, and you don't plan on having a large taxable income in retirement, then a Roth may not be for you.

Keep in mind; you also don't get taxed on the growth of the money invested in a Roth.