[Rain Man]

My big discovery a while back is that my tax rates likely won't be lower in retirement. Between Social Security and Required Minimum Distributions and Dividends, I'll be fortunate enough to generate a healthy income. But that diminishes the value of a traditional IRA.

You still get to invest the deferred taxes for a few decades, so I'm not saying a traditional IRA is a bad proposition, but all I've ever heard is that "you'll benefit from a lower tax rate in retirement", and that's not true if you're a dedicated saver during your career. The Roth is much better in that case, because if you're going to pay the same tax rate earlier or later, pay it earlier so you can get the tax-free growth.

I have both, by the way, but my Roths are newer for some various logistical reasons. I'm now in a multi-year process of converting the traditional IRAs to Roth because I'm going to have an income trough for the next several years (with a lower tax rate) before Social Security kicks in.