Roth IRA’s are ideal for people who:
(1) Don’t expect to need the resources. Traditional IRA’s have annual, required minimum distributions that are taxable; Roth IRA’s have no mandatory distributions. If someone has sufficient retirement assets, why be forced to receive unwanted, taxable income each year?; or
(2) Want to leave the assets to their heirs. Traditional IRA’s are intended to fund retirement, not to fund a decedent’s estate, and federal law makes it difficult to leave much behind. Roth IRA’s, in contrast, are useful prong in estate planning; or
(3) Can’t make tax-deductible contributions to a traditional IRA—they’re covered by an employer-sponsored plan and have their deduction phased-out—but want to save more retirement money. There’s no longer any point to making non-deductible contributions to a traditional IRA (which creates basis in the IRA assets). A Roth is a much better choice in this situation.
For all the other people out there—those who are eligible to make a deductible IRA contribution, who will indeed need the assets someday, and who won’t amass Lord or Lady Bountiful’s estate—a traditional IRA remains the right option.