Robert Brokamp

But we're going to discuss five reasons why it still might make sense to go with the Roth, starting with the biggest one, withdrawals are tax-free if you follow the rules.

To quote IRA expert Ed Slott, when you have money in a traditional account, you basically have a co-owner of the account, that co-owner being Uncle Sam.

But with the Roth, you own everything, which is a nice benefit.

But there are other benefits, such as number two, no required minimum distributions.

Yeah, and just to give folks a little framework for what RMDs are.

So at age 73, for most people, it's only 3.8% of your account.

But it goes up pretty significantly.

So by age 80, it's 5%.

By age 90, it's 8.2%.

And you have to take that out of the traditional accounts, whether you need it or not, and pay taxes.

So again, another benefit of the Roth.

So let's move on to benefit number three, possibly pay lower taxes on Social Security and lower Medicare premiums.

Yeah, and those tax brackets for the taxation of Social Security, it's based on something called provisional income.

They're pretty low because they haven't been adjusted for inflation in a very long time.

So when you look at those, you might think, well, I'll probably still pay taxes on my Social Security, but the premiums for Medicare are higher.

This year, for a single $106,000, buried $212,000.

So some folks may look at those and be like, I don't have to worry about paying higher premiums for Medicare.

I think what happens is,

There might be a single year where in retirement you have a big expense.

You bought that RV or you took the family on a trip.