Here you go, Lee:
The major difference between a Roth and a standard IRA is that the contributions to the Roth are made with after-tax dollars, whereas to the IRA they are pre-tax dollars.
The major advantage of the Roth over the standard IRA is that in the standard IRA you pay income taxes on any withdrawals you make, whereas when you take money out of a Roth (provided you meet the requirements, i.e. over age 59.5, money was in there 5 yrs before withdrawal, etc.), it is not subject to any taxes -- you have already paid taxes on the contributions, and whatever you manage to earn on that money is also tax-free.
The drawback of the Roth is that one can only contribute a maximum of $3,500 to it each year, depending on your age.
Does that answer your questions?
Newly