<prompt> Human: Hi rPF,Apologies if this is a dumb question or if the answer should be obvious to me, but I just opened a Traditional IRA last week, and now I am concerned as to whether or not I should have created a Roth IRA instead. I am 21 now, and I really want to get a jump on saying for retirement, I know how quicklyhow much savings can add up.I see a lot of people who love having Roth IRAs, did I jump the gun on creating one, and should I convert to Roth? I dont expect to make a ton of money in life, to be quite honest, my goal is to live simply, save frugally, and overall let my money work for me rather than work for my money.What specifically makes a Roth IRA so popular?  <response>: With a Roth, you pay taxes on the money you put in, and do not pay taxes on the qualified distributions you take out. No tax. No tax on capital gains. No tax on dividends. No tax. With a traditional IRA you dont pay taxes on your contributions, but are taxed your appropriate income tax rate on any qualified distributions. The benefit for Roths is that if you are in a lower tax bracket now, you can pay little tax or in some cases no tax if you have no tax burden to put money into your IRA, and take out as much as you want in retirement and still not have to pay taxes on it. The benefit for Traditional accounts is that if you are in a higher tax bracket now, you can defer your tax burden until you are in a lower bracket- say in retirement for instance. Many people opt for a porque no los dos? approach. 