Roth IRA or 401k for carpenters? I'm maxing my DeWalt retirement at $7k a year

Been running my own cabinet shop for 15 years and I throw $7k annually into my DeWalt-sponsored 401k, but lately I'm thinking Roth IRA might be smarter for tax-free growth on all these Festool tool investments. Why stick with the traditional when we grind so hard in the trade? Fight me on this.

don't max the 401k if you're self employed, you'll pay taxes on withdrawals when you actually need the cash after years of back-breaking deck builds.

screw the system, these retirement plans are just another way corps like DeWalt lock us into their ecosystem while we eat sawdust for lunch.

i feel you, been pouring my earnings into a traditional IRA but now with custom trim jobs slowing down, taxes are killing me.

man, same here, 20 years of installing baseboards and my savings are tied up in deferred taxes I can't touch without penalties.

haha, if retirement means trading Festool for a rocking chair, count me in, but yeah Roth sounds less painful.

pissed me off when I realized my 401k contributions weren't keeping up with inflation on lumber prices.

SharkBite might be controversial in plumbing, but in carpentry, traditional IRAs are the real scam for solo guys building furniture.

so what's the Roth conversion process like if you're already in a 401k with DeWalt?

never convert without a CPA, I knew a framer who botched it and owed back taxes on a whole year's worth of joist work.

frustrated as hell with how these plans don't account for seasonal slowdowns in cabinet installs.

talk to a financial advisor who gets trades, they can run numbers showing Roth saving you 15-20% on taxes long term.

for self-employed carpenters, set up a solo 401k first then roll to Roth, gets you higher limits than IRA alone.

watched Essential Craftsman vid on financial basics, he pushes Roth for hands-on trades like ours.

customer called me retired but I'm still hanging doors at 55, wish I'd gone Roth from day one lol.

i get it, brother, after decades of spline joints and dovetails, who knows if we'll even make it to draw from savings.

try a SEP IRA if you're over 50, allows bigger catch-up contributions for all that overtime on pergola builds.

damn, the market dips hit hard when you're relying on steady cabinet gigs to fund it.

yeah, been there, pouring sweat into woodworking only to watch savings erode from bad planning.