“Comparing tax timing (pay tax now vs. later) is one of the clearest ways to understand Roth versus Traditional choices. A simple illustration: if $1,000 is in a Traditional (pre-tax) account and withdrawals are taxed in retirement, the amount you actually keep after tax depends on your tax rate at withdrawal. By contrast, a Roth contribution of $1,000 is already after-tax, so qualified withdrawals are tax-free. This arithmetic test shows the basic idea — it doesn’t include growth or differing investment returns, but it demonstrates the immediate tax timing difference in a straightforward numeric example.”