Traditional vs Roth IRA

Tommy Mulhern · Jun 7, 2026 · 19 replies

Hey friends, I'm very new to my FI journey and just listened to podcast episode #21 pillars of FI and they mentioned how Roth IRA may not be the smartest to max out rather traditional may be the smarter max out. There was a reference to the IRA conversion ladder. I'm confused. Can someone help me understand what is the best to max out first, traditional or roth IRA? Side note I am self employed and have a self employed traditional and roth 401k and I was reading that self employed may be able to avoid the pro-rata rules by rolling over traditional IRA to SE 401k. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

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