<prompt> Human: For someone whos above the MAGI limit for a Roth IRA contribution Roth IRA contribution limit phases out beginning at 116K for single, 183k for joint couple in 2015, what are the proscons of maxing out an unmatched 401K to lower MAGI below the Roth IRA limit vs. going with a backdoor Roth IRA? Obviously at that income level AMT avoidance would be helpful as well, but am I missing anything else? A downside if you you assume asset liquidity is valuable, so an unmatched 401K ties up some funds until a change of employment.  <response>: If your income is high enough that you dont qualify for Roth IRA contributions then theres a good chance you should be focusing on pre-tax contributions to your 401k anyways. If that at some point puts you below the income limit and you want to contribute to your Roth IRA for some tax diversification then thats great. Most people who have to do a backdoor Roth IRA would probably be better off maxing out their Traditional 401k contributions to the full 18,000 first. 