Personally I think the key to life is being debt free (I'm not because of house debt but working on it). If I had a bunch of money to put in a Roth I'd make sure I didn't have any credit cards or car loans first (then stay that way and don't rack them up again). I'd also pay off any debt that had a variable interest rate like HELOCs considering the Qe that is going on the $$ will be worth about half in the not so distant future compared to the beginning of the century. You will not want to get stuck with anything that has a variable rate when massive inflation takes hold. If your house has an arm get the lowest fixed rate you possibly can now while they are at record lows and the asset should appreciate with inflation as long as the economy doesn't completely tank. Then continue to hammer away at that home debt. Remember that FedEx puts 7% of your earnings in a retirement account regardless of what you contribute to your 401K ($500 match only). This is no small chunk of change especially if you reach the point where the sick bank money goes in as well. Hopefully we continue to be a healthy company well into the future and the 2%x25 A Plan remains intact for our retirements. If not it will be the fact of having no debt when you retire that will allow you to live comfortably with a smaller (or larger) nest egg and that will allow you to pull money out of a taxable IRA at a reduced rate putting you into a lower tax bracket certain years if you desire. Final note: don't take financial advise from a pilot ;-)