IRA, but why not a Roth and never pay tax on the earnings? Do you make too much?
Why not a traditional and never pay tax on the earnings or contributions?
http://www.madfientist.com/traditional-ira-vs-roth-ira/
Advice from the normals out there who slave away until 65=Roth
Advice from most of the early retirement community=Traditional
As the quintessential question goes, it all depends on Marginal tax rate now vs Effective tax rate in retirement. I am very strongly on the "almost all mustachians should be using a traditional over a Roth" side of things. This is because your marginal rate is now 25% and even if your retirement income is the same as your pre-retirement income, your effective rate will be much less (like 15%). I've argued this a ton of times but here are the only reasons you should think about a Roth:
1. You expect your retirement income to be SIGNIFICANTLY higher than your pre-retirement income (applies to almost no one on this site)
2. You expect tax rates to increase significantly between now and when you retire.
3. Your income is too high for a Traditional IRA (Roth limits are much higher)
4. You have some need to withdraw your contributions before retirement age. e.g. You are using your Roth account as your Emergency Fund, you are trying to collect the 5 years of living expenses needed to prime a Roth Conversion Ladder or, you need the ability to withdraw the funds to keep you emotionally happy despite the lower expected returns in most cases (like how people choose to pay off Mortgages with low interest rates despite the stock market being a better bet because it is an emotional decision).
If the 4 reasons above don't apply to you, then you should do a traditional IRA instead of a Roth.