From: beliavsky@aol.com
Newsgroups: misc.invest.financial-plan
Subject: Re: Contribute to Traditional vs Roth IRA??
Date: Tue, 29 Mar 2005 12:07:52 CST
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Nathan Liskov wrote:
> I was asked whether it is better to contribute tax-deferred money to
a
> Traditional IRA vs  after-tax money to a Roth IRA.
>
> The answer is remarkably simple (ignoring early withdrawal or other
> issues):
>
> Do Traditional IRA if your tax rate is lower when you take the money
> out.
> Do Roth IRA if you expect your tax rate to be higher when you take
the
> money out

Does choosing a traditional IRA give you some optionality? Can you
convert to a Roth IRA in a year where your income (and thus tax
bracket) is low, for example when you are unemployed or going back to
school?

I know very little about IRA rules, the implied statements in the above
questions could be wrong.