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Planning for retirement? What to know about traditional, Roth IRAs

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Socking away money for retirement is something that’s top of mind for many people.

Many Americans save money for their “Golden Years” through workplace retirement plans and individual accounts they set up, with traditional and Roth IRAs being frequently-used vehicles in the latter category. 

savers benefit from higher rates

Experts recommend you utilize a Roth or Traditional IRA in order to save and grow your retirement package.  (iStock / iStock)

Roth IRAs

Holders of Roth IRAs are able to make after-tax contributions to their accounts. 

“Why a lot of people like a Roth IRA today is that you pay income taxes today before you put the money into the Roth IRA,” Ted Jenkin, a personal finance expert and partner at Exit Wealth, told FOX Business. “The money grows tax-deferred while it’s inside of the Roth IRA, but the great news about a Roth IRA is you never, ever pay any tax when you take it out, so it’s basically taxed once today and then you’re never ever taxed again.” 

For 2025, the contribution limit for Roth IRAs is $7,000 for ages below 50 and $8,000 for those older than that, according to the IRS. 

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When a person takes out contributions from a Roth IRA, they will not have taxes or a penalty. A holder could face both if they do that for Roth IRA earnings before five years have elapsed since they’ve opened the account or they’re below the age of 59 ½, according to Fidelity.

businessman with hand over piggy bank

Businessman in suit is holding piggy bank. Finance Savings concept (iStock / iStock)

Traditional IRAs

Funds put into traditional IRAs are typically “not taxed until you take a distribution,” according to the IRS.

“Just like a Roth IRA, the dollars grow tax-deferred. However, on all that growth in the traditional IRA, ultimately you’re going to be taxed when you take it out down the road,” Jenkin said.

He noted that “can be challenging because you don’t always know what your tax brackets are going to be down the road.” 

People under 50 years old can make up to $7,000 in contributions to traditional IRAs in 2025. For those above 50, it is slightly higher, at $8,000.

In contrast to Roth IRAs, contributions to traditional IRAs can be tax-deductible but, according to Jenkin, that “depends on a number of factors.”

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He said the “big question” for deductibility was “Are you covered by a workplace retirement plan?”

“If you don’t, or your spouse does not, then you can fully deduct the traditional IRA,” he told FOX Business. “But if you have one at work, then there’s a phase out income-wise on how much income you have as to whether or not it’s deductible.”

When it comes to withdrawals for traditional IRAs, you can do so at any time but that distribution “will be includible in your taxable income and it may be subject to a 10% additional tax if you’re under age 59 ½,” according to the IRS.

For traditional IRAs, holders face a required minimum distribution they must pull out each year once they turn 73.  

Things to think about

The differences between traditional and Roth IRAs give people planning for retirement plenty to think about as they mull which account they want to use. 

Jenkin said one factor was “Do I want to be taxed now, or do I want to be taxed later?”

“When you’re younger, you’re generally in a lower tax bracket, which is why, for younger people, it’s a really great idea in my view to be putting money into a Roth IRA, because once it goes in there, you’re never taxed again.” 

He also noted the Secure 2.0 Act that became law in late 2022. 

“When you have a traditional IRA and you die and it goes to your kids or any other non-spouse inheritor, you have to take the money out of a traditional IRA within 10 years,” he said. “In a Roth IRA, when you die and your kids inherit the Roth IRA, they can take it out as long as they want. They’re not subject to that 10 years.” 

When weighing opening a traditional or Roth IRA, Jenkin also said people should consider whether they can “leave the money in there for an extended period of time.” He said they should factor in their current tax brackets and their “overall future estate plan” for their family as well. 

Documents about Individual retirement account IRA on a desk. (iStock / iStock)

He told FOX Business his “lean on this would be that more and more people should be looking at opening up a Roth IRA versus a traditional IRA.” 

How many people have IRAs? 

The Investment Company Institute said in a study released Thursday that nearly 44% of American households had IRAs in mid-2024, whether that be traditional, Roth, employer-sponsored or a combination. 

Traditional IRAs were owned by 32.6% of households, it found. Over 26% of households had Roth IRAs. 

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A separate report released by Fidelity Investments in February reported IRA accounts held average balances of $127,543 in the fourth quarter of 2024. That was an increase of 8% from the same three-month period in the prior year, according to the report. 

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Chicago Fed’s Goolsbee says Fed independence is ‘critically important’ for its inflation fight

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Chicago Federal Reserve President Austan Goolsbee.

Kate Rooney | CNBC

Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Austan Goolsbee on Monday urged against reducing the central bank’s independence as President Donald Trump amped up criticism of Chair Jerome Powell.

“The long run expectations that the Fed would get inflation back down to the 2% target were critically important. Fed independence is critically important for that,” Goolsbee said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”

“When there is interference over the long run, it’s going to mean higher inflation, it’s going to mean worse growth and higher unemployment, because there’s just going to be a little less willingness to step up and do the hard things when the moment is tough,” he said, while declining to comment directly on what Trump has said.

Trump levied another salvo at Powell on Friday for not lowering interest rates. There have also been talks that Trump may try to pull strings on monetary policy both by legislation and possibly by installing a “shadow chair” who could undermine Powell’s authority.

“If we had a Fed Chairman that understood what he was doing, interest rates would be coming down, too,” Trump said, pointing to examples of falling prices. “He should bring them [interest rates] down.”

White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said Friday that Trump and his team are assessing whether they can remove the Fed chair. Powell has said previously that he cannot be fired under law and intends to serve through the end of his term as chair in May 2026.

“I’ve been at the Fed for a little over two years. Before I was ever at the Fed, I would tell you, economists are basically unanimous that Fed independence is critically important,” said Goolsbee. “And to see why, just look at the countries where they don’t have Fed independence. Inflation is higher, unemployment is higher, growth is worse.”

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Stocks making the biggest moves premarket: TSLA, AAPL, AMZN, SPOT

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China to retaliate against nations that work with U.S. to isolate Beijing

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BEIJING — China on Monday warned it will retaliate against countries that cooperate with the U.S. in ways that compromise Beijing’s interests, as the trade war between the world’s two largest economies threatens to embroil other nations.

China’s warning comes as U.S. President Donald Trump‘s administration is reportedly planning to use tariff negotiations to pressure U.S. partners to limit their dealings with China. Trump this month paused major tariff increases on other countries for 90 days, while hiking duties further on goods from China to 145%.

“China firmly opposes any party reaching a deal at the expense of China’s interests. If this happens, China will not accept it and will resolutely take reciprocal countermeasures,” the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said, according to a CNBC translation.

The ministry cautioned about the risk to all countries once international trade returns to the “law of the jungle.”

The statement also sought to cast China as willing to work with all parties and “defend international fairness and justice,” while describing the U.S. actions as “abusing tariffs” and “unilateral bullying.”

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In a shift toward a harder stance this month, China retaliated against U.S. tariffs with levies of 125% on imports of American goods. Beijing has also restricted critical minerals exports and put several, mostly smaller, U.S. companies on blacklists that restrict their ability to work with Chinese companies.

Analysts don’t expect the U.S. and China to reach a deal anytime soon, although Trump on Thursday said he expected an agreement could be reached in the next three to four weeks.

Chinese President Xi Jinping last week visited Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia in his first overseas trip of 2025. In official Chinese readouts of his meetings with the three countries’ leaders, Xi called for joint efforts to oppose tariffs and “unilateral bullying.”

Since Trump imposed tariffs on China during his first term, the Asian country has increased its trade with Southeast Asia, now China’s largest trading partner on a regional basis. The U.S. remains China’s largest trading partner on a single-country basis.

Last week, China’s Ministry of Commerce replaced its top international trade negotiator with Li Chenggang, who also became a vice minister and has been the country’s ambassador to the World Trade Organization. China has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. with the WTO over Trump’s latest tariff increases.

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