When I was working, I thought it was better to do traditional IRAs because it would lower my taxes at the time now that I am paying a fortune in taxes for the RMD’s. I have to withdraw now. I think I would’ve been a better off having Roth IRA I’m not I’m not having all that income to pay on RMD‘s now
But would you have qualified for Roths? When you and your husband were both working, you might have been over the income limit.
Like mcarley points out, you likely were never able to establish a Roth. I only qualified for a Roth in the last year that I worked. By the time that the rules changed to allow converting IRAs to Roths, we were in our 60s and the tax savings would have been minimal. I encourage anyone 50-55 or younger to look seriously into converting their traditional IRAs. Done early enough, it can make a big tax difference later.
Clark Howard over the years, often times will preach Roth, Roth,Roth.
Sometimes it makes sense…sometimes it doesn’t. I live a comfortable but frugal retirement and I am in the lowest tax bracket that I’ve been in since I was working. If I had a Roth, I would have paid tax at a much higher rate that I do today. Even an RMD isn’t going to push me into that high of a tax bracket.