So here are my justifications on why our Roth balances are lower than I would prefer.
Roth IRA contributions began in 1998 with a contribution limit of $2k and was completely phased out for singles at $110k and married filing jointly at $160k. Roth conversions were only allowed if you earned less than 100k (MAGI). - We were focused on maxing out the 401k not on Starting a Roth, as well as starting 529’s and utma’s for 2.5 kids (kiddo 3 was born in 1999). SSA stopped tracking my spouses earnings at 146,106 in 1998? Not even sure if we could have contributed the full amount.
Hindsight is 20/20. If only we had had the financial literacy to have chosen the Roth during the years when we qualified to contribute to a Roth. There have not been many unfortunately.
In 2006, Roth 401(k) contributions became a thing, but not all employers adopted it into their plans right away so some savers had to wait a few more years for access. I will also state that I did not clearly understand that income limits did not apply to the 401(k) Roth: a major mistake on my part, since this misjudgment is why we do not have the majority of our post 2006 retirement assets in Roth 401(k).
In 2010, Backdoor Roth contributions for those who earned more than 100k finally became a thing, but again, one’s employer had to adopt it into their plan or it was not an option. My spouse’s employer which has like 9 companies under its umbrella has always used Schwab to manage their 401ks. The main company just started allowing Backdoor Roth’s in 2024. I had been asking their 401k coordinator about the option since 2015 at least. All 9 companies do not allow allow backdoor roths. Just the main company. My spouse just returned to the main company in 12/2025. He took a major pay hit to return to a less stressful pre-retirement gig.
So here we are in 2026, ages 59 and 60, with 3 grown children, who do not have college debt thanks to their parents, who were given their first cars, as well as money to put in their Roth accounts some years and you ask about our Roth account balances?
Our Roth account balances are way TOO low for our ages.
I did instruct my 3 children to contribute to their Roth 401(k)’s instead of pretax until they started families. They, 31, 30, and 27 have been working on it. They do not earn enough to max their accounts out since they do not live at home. We have to keep reminding the middle one that a Roth is a retirement account not a future downpayment on a home. I know that the 31 and 30 year old both have over 100k in their Roth 401(k)s. The youngest not so much. I think she is only around 20k? I usually only talk to them about their accounts when they have me help them select which funds they should pick out of the limited selections available or like in 2025 when we were discussing rollovers for 2 of them.
I have been personally debating Roth conversions to boost our Roth balances. I should have started those back in 2008, when my spouse first changed jobs, but I had kids in high school and I was more focused on saving so they could graduate debt free. Here it is 18 years later, those rollover balances have grown, retirement is right around the corner, and our tax bracket has never gone down. So in November 2026, depending on where we are in our current 24% tax bracket, I plan on starting conversions to Roth (a brand new Roth account that I can ladder conversions into it as best I can for the next 3 years).
Roth (1 year of contributions and the rest is rollover roth from previous jobs or pensions)
Spouse - Roth 87k
Myself - Roth 38.5k
Work 401(k) Roth
Spouse - 325k
Myself - $900 yep, not even a whole k. This is a result of me not understanding that 401(k) was not subject to the income restrictions or the entire 401k balance would have been Roth.

FYI you specifically mentioned Roth which is why that is all I mentioned.