Is Roth always better than Traditional?

No. Roth wins if your tax rate will be higher in retirement; Traditional wins if it will be lower. If your rate drops even slightly in retirement (for example 24% now to 22% later), Traditional can produce a larger after-tax balance.

How do I choose between Roth and Traditional?

Compare your marginal tax rate today with your expected rate in retirement. Higher later favors Roth; lower later favors Traditional. When uncertain, many people split contributions between both.

What does the Roth vs Traditional calculator compare?

It compares the after-tax value of each account using the same pre-tax budget, correctly taxing the Roth contribution up front so the comparison is apples-to-apples.

Retirement · Honest math, no agenda

Roth vs Traditional: why "always Roth" is wrong

"Just do the Roth" is the most repeated retirement advice online, and it is wrong often enough to cost you real money. Here is an ordinary case where the boring Traditional IRA beats the Roth by about $19,000.

The one thing that actually decides it

With a Roth you pay taxes now and withdraw tax-free later. With a Traditional you skip taxes now and pay them later. So the entire decision is one comparison: is your tax rate higher now, or higher in retirement? Higher later → Roth wins. Lower later → Traditional wins. Everything else is noise.

A worked example

Age 30, retiring at 65, contributing $7,000/year, earning 7%, with a 24% tax rate today and 22% in retirement (many people drop a bracket or two):

Traditional after-tax value: $754,773
Roth after-tax value: $735,420
Winner: Traditional, by $19,353

Why? You skipped tax at 24% and paid it at 22%. That two-point gap on a large balance is worth about $19,000. The "always Roth" crowd would have had you pay the higher rate up front for nothing.

Run it with your brackets →Free Roth vs Traditional calculator. No sign-up. Compare after-tax outcomes with your real tax rates.

When Roth genuinely wins

Roth wins all the time too, just not always. If you are young and early-career, you may be in a low bracket now and a higher one later, and then Roth can win big. Roth also has real perks the raw math understates: no required minimum distributions, simpler planning, and a hedge against tax rates rising for everyone. Young and low-income now → Roth is often right. Peak earnings now, expecting a lower bracket later → Traditional deserves a hard look.

The honest caveat

Nobody knows their future tax rate or what Congress does to brackets in 30 years. Treat this as a decision under uncertainty: run it with a couple of honest guesses, and if they disagree, that uncertainty itself argues for splitting, some Roth and some Traditional.

Figures from TheSharpDollar's Roth vs Traditional calculator using the sample scenario. Your result depends on your real tax rates, contribution, and timeline.