I recently found out that my company's 401k allows me to make regular pre-tax contributions as well as Roth contributions, and the latter is a form of retirement savings that I'm not wholly familiar with. Could anyone here explain what hypothetical reasons someone could have for choosing to make Roth contributions versus pre-tax contributions, or to make a mix of both? Are the factors similar to a tIRA vs Roth IRA, i.e. tax rates expected to be lower/higher later in life, etc? I'm assuming the total contribution between the two types can still only add up to $18k max; is that correct?
Thank you in advance!