re: Retirement

I read the article that you linked. I find I agreed more with some of the comments.

I have two primary reasons for contributing to a Roth. One, over a 40 to 50 working period your investments should double or triple or better. If you contribute $5500 as a 22 year old it should be double in value every 12 years at 6% (rule of 72). So let us say that that $5500 becomes $20,000 by the time you begin to withdraw. You will not have to pay taxes on any of the withdrawal. With a traditional you would have to pay taxes on all of it. Second, is that the Roth allows me to manage my tax bracket. As an example, if I need to withdraw $90,000 for a given year in retirement. Then I can take out $75,900 (married filing jointly for 2017) and pay 10% tax on the first $18,650 and 15% tax on the rest. I then take $14,100 ($90,000 -$75,900) out of the Roth and pay no taxes on the $14,000.

A Roth is not subject to Required Minimum Distributions as long as I am alive. I don't have this listed as a top consideration because I don't believe it will be an issue for most people. However, if you are in position to make a healthy contribution to your 401k and your Roth and your investments do well then you may find that you will indeed be subject to Required Minimum Distributions.

None of this takes into account other income in retirement - pension, social security, investment income, etc. And finally, the tax laws will no doubt change over time so none of us know for sure what is the best strategy. All you can do is play with the cards that are dealt.