And the standard rule is that you need time in the market to make a ROTH contribution really worth while so doing them when you are younger is best.
Say you put the max you can into a ROTH for 10 years (say $6000 x 10) when you are in your 20s (pay the tax on the contributions) and don't touch it and invest wisely the amount in the by the time you reach 65 it could be worth $4 million ... so you paid taxes on $60K but have $4 million to withdraw tax free later ... not a bad trade off.
So it is back to the "it depends on your complete situation" since there are too many variables to give any meaningful answer in this forum. Your age, other assets, income, time to retirement, other investments/retirements, possible inheritances, your health, when you will retire, etc all must be taken into consideration when tax planning for the future.
