Roth vs Traditional Calculator
Roth pays tax now. Traditional pays tax later. The winner depends on where your tax rate lands in retirement — this tool shows both, side by side.
Ending value comparison
Roth vs Traditional after-tax value, and Traditional if you also invest the up-front tax savings.
If your retirement tax rate (18%) is lower than today's (24%), Traditional usually wins — you skip a higher tax now and pay a lower one later. If your retirement rate is higher (or equal), Roth wins. When you also invest Traditional's up-front tax savings in a taxable account, Traditional's total climbs to $457,741.
Methodology & how to use this
The comparison
Roth: contribute after-tax dollars annually; end value is tax-free. Traditional: contribute pre-tax annually; end value is taxed as ordinary income at withdrawal. Both sides use the future-value-of-an-annuity formula PMT × ((1+r)^n − 1)/r.
The "invest the tax savings" wrinkle
Fully apples-to-apples: with Traditional you have contribution × today's rate of tax savings each year that you can invest in a taxable side account. That side account is also grown as an annuity. Only the gains in that account are taxed at withdrawal — the basis was already after-tax. We tax those gains at your retirement rate as a simplification; real long-term capital-gains rates may differ. If you spend the savings instead, ignore that number and use the "after-tax end value" comparison.
Keep running the numbers
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