If you can afford to take the tax hit in the present then after tax and roth is for you. If taxes are kicking your ass then traditional pre tax is your jam. This country is in big trouble if you haven't noticed and God knows what taxes are gonna look like in 15-40 years when we're trying to retire. I'm playing the pay now play later by doing mostly roth and after tax. It would make me sick to give uncle sugar 20 ish percent of appreciated holdings so im eating it now. I can afford it based on how my income is taxed. Employer contributions are pretax. Spreading around to all 3 is likely best some might argue. You can use some portion of roth ira for first time home purchase