need some advice: how and where to contribute

[whammer33024]

my wife is a teacher.  i just found out she is able to do roth contributions to her 403b.  i'm trying to figure out the best route to go for things.  we are firmly in the 15% bracket(gross 65k a year combined) and probably always will be. also, she currently has no intent to RE so we could quite possibly get her full pension from IPERS(iowa)

my current plan(before knowledge of roth 403b) was to invest enough to get a match in my simple IRA
max out roth ira's for both of us
increase my simple IRA contributions as well as her 403b contributions(she does not get a match). 

but with her 403b, do i make roth or pretax contributions?  do i try to max that instead of worrying about a roth ira for her?  her 403b offers VTSAX and that's where all of her contributions will go.  do i max out roth ira's for each of us first and then fill the other other options as much as we can? 

[whammer33024]

Try again? Lol

[GGNoob]

The top priority would probably be:

1. Your Simple IRA to match
2. Roth IRAs

Then you would probably compare fees for your Simple IRA and her 403b. Whatever one offers the lowest fees is the one I would fill up next.

As far as Roth or traditional (tax deferred) goes...that's really up to you. The 15% tax bracket is where its really a toss up between Roth or traditional. If your expenses will be the same or lower in retirement, you'd probably come out ahead with traditional. If your expenses in retirement will be higher, then you'd probably come out ahead with a Roth.

You can do a simple google search for "Roth or Traditional" and there will be plenty of articles that will talk about which is better. It's probably best that you make that decision and know why you are making that decision so that you will not regret anything down the road.

[whammer33024]

Thanks for your response logan. I've always planned to max out our Roth iras before trying to max anything else so I'm thinking doing the Roth 403b would be a better bet for us than traditional. I'm thinking our expenses will be equal or higher in retirement since I hope to do some traveling in retirement

[GGNoob]

Thanks for your response logan. I've always planned to max out our Roth iras before trying to max anything else so I'm thinking doing the Roth 403b would be a better bet for us than traditional. I'm thinking our expenses will be equal or higher in retirement since I hope to do some traveling in retirement

Sounds like a pretty good plan then...

1. Your Simple IRA to match
2. Roth IRAs
3. Roth 403b