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A comment on Investing for Geeks. Parent comment

Re:Investing for Geeks by tcoppi on Friday September 16, 2016 @01:25PM (#12515650)
The only situations I can think of where Roth might make sense are 1) early stages of your career, before you hit the 28% marginal rate and 2) if you are still eligible for a Roth, but already maximized your other tax-advantaged space in 401(k)s and IRAs.
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Re:Investing for Geeks by sparky_z on Friday September 16, 2016 @02:09PM (#12515993)
> if you are still eligible for a Roth, but already maximized your other tax-advantaged space in 401(k)s and IRAs.

Under what conditions could this occur?

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Re:Investing for Geeks by loeg on Friday September 16, 2016 @02:35PM (#12516228)
If you make more than ~$62k (single earner) and have an employer 401(k) program, you're not eligible to deduct traditional IRA contributions. (Non-deductible traditional IRA contributions get a worse tax treatment than a taxable brokerage account.)

At very roughly $120k-$130k (single earner; I forget the exact figure) you're no longer eligible for Roth IRA contributions. However, you can make non-deductible Traditional IRA contributions and then do a Traditional-to-Roth conversion (not "recharacterization"). This is known as a "Backdoor Roth IRA contribution" and is legal and explained in nauseating detail on the internet.

So:

> Under what conditions could this occur?

If you make more than ~$62k, have an employer 401(k), and contribute the maximum to it, funding a Roth IRA is a good idea.

(Unless you have an existing traditional IRA balance which would make backdoor Roth funding counter-productive due to the pro rata …. blah blah. If you don't have an existing Traditional IRA balance it's not a problem.)

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Re:Investing for Geeks by graton on Friday September 16, 2016 @04:24PM (#12517075)
When you want to do a back-door Roth IRA for one.

http://www.rothira.com/what-is-a-backdoor-roth-ira

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Re:Investing for Geeks by Willson50 on Friday September 16, 2016 @02:30PM (#12516185)
When you make under $132,000 but were still able to contribute $18,000 to your 401k.
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