Fund Roth or Traditional IRA?

[ASquared]

For 2014 we are able to contribute to a Roth, which I assumed would be the best option.  However I also know that contributing to a traditional plan would give us a tax benefit of approx 1600.  So are we better off to fund the traditional and possibly do a Roth conversion later?  Is the tax benefit now worthwhile?

Thank you

[NWstubble]

Lots of info on the forums about this topic, here are a few to start you off:

https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/investor-alley/401k-to-ira-to-roth-and-effective-tax-rates/msg159534/#msg159534

https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/investor-alley/roth-conversion/msg5812/#msg5812

https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/investor-alley/where-is-the-cutoff-point/msg187721/#msg187721

[hoppy08520]

If you are in the 15% Federal tax bracket today, then there might be a case to prefer Roth over traditional. But if you're in the 25% tax bracket then there needs to be some compelling reason to favor Roth. See this blogpost on the topic from the perspective of ER:

http://www.madfientist.com/traditional-ira-vs-roth-ira/