Traditional vs Roth IRA Calculator
Compare Traditional and Roth IRA outcomes side-by-side. Adjust your current tax bracket vs your expected retirement bracket and see which actually leaves you with more spendable money.
Last reviewed: · Reviewed by the Money Scale editorial team · How we source our data
Power mode. Every input exposed, every assumption sourced, charts and shareables.
$7,500 / year
24% (federal marginal)
22% (estimated)
7%
Age 30
Retire at 65
Winner (after-tax spendable in retirement)
Roth wins by $36,385
Roth (spendable)
$1,125,659
Traditional (basic)
$878,014
After 22% retirement tax
Trad + reinvested refund
$1,089,274
Apples-to-apples
- Spendable
🟢 Roth: $1,125,659
Contributing $7,500/year for 35 years at 24% bracket now → 22% in retirement.
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The Traditional vs Roth IRA Calculator shows THREE after-tax outcomes side-by-side — the Roth balance (fully spendable), the Traditional balance after retirement income tax, AND the Traditional balance + a separate taxable account funded with the annual tax refund the Traditional generates. The third number is the apples-to-apples comparison most articles skip and that flips the conclusion for many high-bracket savers.
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How this calculator works
- Enter your annual IRA contribution amount (2026 limit is $7,500; $8,600 if 50+).
- Set your CURRENT marginal federal tax bracket. This is the rate the Traditional contribution would have been taxed at this year.
- Set your EXPECTED retirement tax bracket. Most people assume slightly lower, but if you've saved aggressively or expect future rates to rise, similar or higher is realistic.
- Pick expected return (7% is a reasonable long-run default).
- Compare the three bars. The apples-to-apples comparison (Traditional + reinvested refund) is the honest one — but only if you actually save the refund instead of spending it.
Roth_after_tax = FV_after_growth Trad_after_tax = FV × (1 − retire_bracket) Trad+refund = Trad_after_tax + refund × (1 + r)^tThree parallel future values. Roth grows tax-free; Trad grows the same but gets taxed on withdrawal; Trad+refund adds the parallel taxable-account growth funded by the up-front tax savings. Only the third comparison is apples-to-apples in terms of after-tax wealth at retirement.
- FV
- Future value of the IRA balance (same growth for both)
- retire_bracket
- Marginal tax bracket in retirement
- refund
- Annual tax refund the Traditional contribution generates (contribution × current bracket)
- r
- Net return on the taxable-account refund (slightly lower than IRA return due to tax drag)
- t
- Years to retirement
Frequently asked questions
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