Reckonary / Finance / Roth vs Traditional IRA
Traditional leaves you with more
The rule of thumb: Roth wins when your tax rate in retirement is higher than it is today, and Traditional wins when you'll be in a lower bracket later. You entered a lower retirement rate (12% vs 22% now), so Traditional comes out ahead by $56,676.
Roth IRA
taxed now, tax-free later
Traditional IRA
deducted now, taxed later
Your tax rate today and in retirement are assumptions, and they can change — with your income, and with the tax law itself. This is a projection based on the rates you set, not tax advice. Nudge the two sliders to see how much the answer moves; if a small change flips the winner, the two options are close and other factors should decide.
Same pre-tax money in, taxed at a different time — that's the whole difference. Nothing hidden.
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A Roth and a Traditional IRA hold the same investments and grow the same way. The only real difference is when you pay the tax: the Roth taxes your money on the way in and lets it out tax-free, the Traditional lets it in untaxed and taxes it on the way out. So the whole decision comes down to one question — will your tax rate be higher or lower in retirement than it is today? This calculator lays the two futures side by side, on an equal pre-tax contribution, and tells you which leaves you with more after tax.
With a Roth, you pay tax at today's rate before the money is invested, then never pay again — the growth and the withdrawals are yours. With a Traditional, you skip the tax today (the contribution is deductible), the full amount grows, and you're taxed on every dollar you pull out in retirement. Neither is a free lunch: you pay the government either way. The only thing that changes the total is the rate you pay, and that's set by your bracket at two different moments in your life.
This is the assumption that makes the comparison honest, so it's worth being explicit. A Roth dollar isn't the same as a Traditional dollar — the Roth has already been taxed. If you dropped an equal after-tax sum into each account, you'd secretly hand the Roth more real money and it would "win" for the wrong reason. Instead we start both from the same pre-tax (gross) figure. The Traditional invests all of it; the Roth pays today's tax first and invests what's left. That's the standard, apples-to-apples framing, and the clean proof it's fair is the tie above: equal rates, equal result.
The answer depends on two numbers no one can know for certain: your tax rate today and your tax rate decades from now. Rather than bury a guess, we put both on sliders, along with your expected return and your years to retirement. Move them. If a modest change in your future rate flips the winner, your decision is close, and factors this math doesn't score — a Roth's lack of required distributions, its penalty-free access to contributions, the value of tax-free money you can't predict the need for — should tip the balance. The point of the tool isn't a single verdict; it's to show you how the trade-off behaves.
These all matter, and most of them favor the Roth in ways a single after-tax number can't capture. Treat the dollar figures here as the starting point of the decision, not the end of it.
Roth or Traditional IRA — which is better?
There's no single answer; it turns on one bet: will your tax rate be higher or lower in retirement than it is today? A Roth is taxed now and comes out tax-free, so it wins if your future rate is higher. A Traditional is deducted now and taxed on withdrawal, so it wins if you'll be in a lower bracket later. On an equal pre-tax contribution, this calculator computes the after-tax value of each and tells you which comes out ahead for the rates you enter.
What if my tax rate changes?
That's exactly why both rates are sliders here, not fixed numbers. Your income, where you live, and the tax law itself can all move your bracket between now and retirement, and no one can know those in advance. The honest way to use this tool is to nudge the two rates and watch the answer. If a small change flips the winner, the two options are genuinely close, and things this math can't capture — flexibility, other income, whether you want tax-free money later — should carry the weight.
Does this replace tax advice?
No. This is an educational projection, not tax advice. It compares two accounts on a clean, standard assumption and shows every step, but it doesn't know your full situation — other income, deductions, state taxes, required minimum distributions, or how the rules may change. Use it to understand the trade-off and to see how sensitive the answer is to your assumptions, then confirm the decision with a qualified tax professional before you act.
Why compare on the same pre-tax contribution?
Because it's the only fair, apples-to-apples comparison. A Roth dollar and a Traditional dollar aren't the same: the Roth is taxed before it goes in, the Traditional isn't. If you put an equal after-tax amount into each, you'd be quietly giving the Roth more buying power and stacking the deck. Starting from the same pre-tax (gross) amount — taxing the Roth up front so only the after-tax slice is invested — keeps the contest even. A clean proof it's fair: when your tax rate now and later are equal, the two accounts end up exactly equal.
Are there other differences besides taxes?
Yes, and this tool deliberately focuses on just the tax trade-off to keep the math checkable. In real life a Roth has no required minimum distributions in your lifetime, its contributions can be withdrawn without penalty, and it passes to heirs tax-free — all points in the Roth's favor that a pure after-tax number doesn't show. A Traditional lowers your taxable income today, which can matter for other thresholds. Weigh those alongside the dollar figures here.
Last reviewed July 2026. This tool is for education, not tax or financial advice. Results are a projection based on the assumptions you set — including tax rates that can change — not a guarantee.