Rate a Roth contribution
Monday, March 29th, 2010Whether to make investments into a regular IRA and tax-advantaged employer plan personal accounts versus contributing to “Roth” tax-advantaged employer plan and IRA retirement accounts is not always a straightforward choice.
The choice on the trade offs is one of the most complex choices of a lifecycle financial freedom plan. A lot of things can affect whether a traditional tax-advantaged employer plan or IRA account contribution versus a Roth IRA or tax-advantaged employer plan account contribution decision would be optimal.
If analyzed properly, the majority of people would find that investing into a traditional tax-advantaged employer plan or IRA retirement accounts is the preferred choice, when those deposits would be deductible against current income taxes.
Over a lifetime the analysis is quite complicated. Rules-of-thumb cannot analyze the many important personal financial factors. The preference is not simply about tax rate changes. Instead, the choice requires a fully personalized personal finance projection and analysis of the family’s lifetime expenses, debts, net assets, and taxes.
(Here is where you can find a sophisticated Roth 401k retirement calculator that fully automates this ordinary tax-advantaged employer plan or IRA personal account versus investing in Roth IRA or tax-advantaged employer plan retirement account financial projection.)
Whether or not a family will consume less and save enough to invest carefully across a lifetime dominates the Roth retirement plan versus the “deductible against current income taxes” regular retirement account additional investment decision.
If an investor does not earn a sufficiently high income, cannot save aggressively, does not strictly control investment costs, and/or does not build up a sufficiently substantial retirement nest egg, then that person won’t be in high tax brackets in retirement — whether or not state and federal tax have moved up or down by retirement. If a family does not have sufficiently large assets and income when retired, then the current tax savings an investor will get from picking a regular retirement account contribution would work out to be much more financially favorable over a lifetime.
Note: This discussion ONLY focuses on personal financial circumstances where the person can choose between a “deductible against this years income taxes” traditional IRA or 401k additional investment versus a currently “not deductible against current income taxes” Roth IRA or 401k additional investment. If you cannot get a current tax deduction but can make a Roth contribution, then the Roth deposit is better.
Sophisticated financial planning software with a Roth IRA investment calculator is necessary to develop a fully personalized family financial strategy
Furthermore, to produce a fully personalized plan for financial success requires that you use a first-rate financial planning tool with the leading investing calculator and the top personal finance software tool.
Find a leading do-it-yourself financial planning tools home software product with superior retirement planning calculators, excellent personal budget spreadsheet planner, and the first-rate investment planners for your do-it-yourself life long family financial planning.