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Just want to note that there is more than one table to figure your RMD. If your spouse is more than ten years younger than you are then you use a different table.

When inheriting an IRA or small business retirement savings plan, the rules for taking RMDs will depend on whether the beneficiary of the original depositor is a spouse, non-spouse2 or an entity (such as a trust, estate or charity). If you don't take the RMDs from your account, you will be subject to a penalty equal to 25% of the amount that should have been withdrawn.4 If you inherited a Roth IRA then the same rules generally apply-you must take RMDs. However, as long as the assets have been in the original Roth IRA owner's account for 5 years or more, withdrawals are generally tax free.3

I am (60), retired (with no Roth), with an after tax brokerage account and small pension that covers life expenses. I am keeping life simple on this topic. I am taking enough out my 401/IRA bucket to avoid RMDs that will put me over an IRMMA threshold (choose your threshold) that will cost me additional money (tax) in Medicare. These early withdraws of IRA/401 money will most likely be legacy money, so I simply index these funds in ETFs like SPY (no significant tax liability). If you want no tax liability think about investing in something like BRK/B (growth fund that pays no dividend). Heirs will inherit this bucket (as well as other buckets) and get a stepped up basis, thus no tax. The only tax issue for me is if I need the money, I will have to pay15% on realized capital gains (oh well), the chances for this happening are low with the way all investments are structured.

I switched from Chase in 2022 to Atlantic Union Bank which still offers free checking and is a great bank in the Mid-Atlantic region. If they ever stop offering free checking then I'll switch again. I've used 7 different banks in my life and I do not accept paying fees just to keep my money in the bank....

I take only the RMDs to preserve funds for my 80s and 90s .

You never know if Congress decides to eliminate the tax advantage of a Roth IRA.

Can you please talk about RMDs and death benefits? What is due to the beneficiary and how does the IRS even track if an RMD is due or paid.

Sorry but I find your answer to be smoke and mirrors.

The condos in the high-density areas all the “younger” adults wanted are the new starter homes. We “boomers” fought these tooth and nail at community meetings, but were called NIMBYs and old-fashioned. Boomers knew the developers were (and are) making a KILLING off these complexes-and we knew they would not be affordable. Millennials and Gen Z, if you don’t like it, get involved in your community and change it. Sorry to say it will take time. Wish you all would have listened. BTW, I am a late boomer and I hate what PRIVATE EQUITY-not boomers-have done to our country. And NAFTA. Learn some economic history.

Can't image how lucky I got because I will paid of my house at 40. Having three kids it's was def. Harder to do that plus in parallel I have build a dividend portfolio of around 300k. So the leverage will be awesome for the upcoming decade. great feeling, great security for the family.

I know some folks who had to liquidate all their assets including homes to cover assisted living costs. Medicare does not cover long term care and unless you have long term care insurance you have to pay OOP. There no safety net for folks near end of days. Yes America is the greatest country (sarcasm)

Good video but most couples have age gap. There is a separate RMD schedule for those with a younger spouse, to help ensure spouse also does not run out of money.

Exactly. We need to increase taxes on the "poor" as they can afford more than they let on.

Whose cage was MaryAnn Lake trying to rattle? Shot herself and Chase in the foot

Erin, you mentioned that just RMDs are not necessarily a good way to withdraw from retirement accounts. I suggest that you may want to explore that statement further. In actuality RMD tables start with what turns out to be approximately a 4% withdrawal strategy, so for many the amounts may mirror the 4% rule type strategy. Obviously the adjustments are based on the table , rather than inflation, but have a somewhat similar endpoint. Also with a pure RMD strategy you will never run out of money. Not suggesting that it is the perfect strategy, but it is a strategy. Several authors including Wade Pfau have written about this and the pros and cons.

We can’t afford life insurance but some of my 401k for a buffer for if one of us dies before the other

"It's never about how much you earn but how much you've SAVED is the key to Survival!"- John Antonelli, my ex employer's father and my best friend.

It’s not a myth sweetheart I’m out here living the reality and so are a lot of other people.

I have learned live below your means, over the years I could of bought a better home, a better car, a better suit, better everything but didn’t. 40 years later I’m being paid more by my savings then my real job!

Big chunk of my 401K is in a Roth. Never have to cash out of it. Using it like an insurance policy.

I have been retired for five years now. Although I've been adhering to the 4% rule, things are challenging as I did not anticipate. 30% of the $600K I invested in st0cks is lost to the market. How can I diversify my portfolio for retirement

Im a millionaire but in a different currency! in fact I think im a billionaire in that context.

Thanks most useful information

My strategy for RMD'S for my wife and I is to take the minimum RMD from our traditional IRA's, pay the taxes created by it, then divide what remains between our 3 sons as a pre inheritance gift to be contributed to each of their Roth IRA's. That way the government only gets to tax it once. We have done Roth conversations every year as well to stay under the 12% tax rate. This year we may go over the 12% tax rate due to the expiration of the Trump tax cuts, but will still limit the conversions to stay under the income level that would increase our medicare premiums (which you might have mentioned in your video). I really enjoy your videos and the way you present the information.

What date mistakes? I failed to catch them - did you identify them?

Yes, health issues and accidents do happen and can not be planned for. Our issues were not apparent weh we retired 14 and 17 years ago. Due to Roth conversions, our RMD's are much lower to a point that we can help a grandson with some college expenses next year when our RMDs begin.

This is a good video. Especially liked the point that you spend less in retirement. Too many Talking Heads repeating maintaining your current income in retirement. Example: Income of $100K while raising kids, commuting to work, saving for retirement and so on….YOU DON’T NEED $100K in retirement.

I guess I am the oddball here. Retired at 66, almost 69 now. Divided everything by 4, and transferred all of it to savings (CD's, ect. ). Next year pay taxes and withdraw the final quarter, so all RMD's will vanish because zero left in tax deferred accounts. Solves 2 problems, nothing to think about, and all taxes are ( or have been ) paid at current rates. 2026, who knows how high income tax rates could go, as current rates may vanish.

How about taking more than required RMD? Take enough to fill your tax bracket and put the money in your brokeridge account? This would help tu drain the pre tax account, hopefully down to zero. The brokerage account would be easier to inherit after passing.

I’m still scratching my head on how a person can reach RMD age without taking a distribution. How do 80% of RETIREES reach RMD age without taking a distribution?? Living off only SS? A BOAT LOAD of money in a brokerage account?? How ?????

Erin, you keep nailing relevant topics. My wife and I have been working on this for about six months. We have only traditional IRAs, so we've been discussing what to do as pertains to Roth conversions. What we've decided is to max out the 24% federal income tax bracket, willing to pay the elevated Medicare Part B (a.k.a. "IRMAA") for 2026. We're going to do the same for 2025 and then evaluate what happens with the current tax system for future conversions. The goal is to have everything converted in about 6 years. At that time we'll be 72 and hopefully free (as will be our heirs) from RMDs and other IRS "features".

I have been taking RMD’s for two years now and my wife will be taking it this year. I find it frustrating because we do not need all that money now to lead the life we want to have. Since I don’t know what kind of bills we might face as we age I wish the government would just let us take our savings as we need and want to and then when we are dead if we haven’t paid all the taxes owed they can have the taxes then. It seems like that would help seniors to avoid running out of money before the end of life.

How do you calculate the interest and the time to pay the mortgage using the $1 a month?

Wonderful and insightful video. One consideration and reason to keep RMD's to their minimum is the income based Medicare IRMAA brackets which can substantially increase the cost of Medicare. Once you add Social Security, interest, dividend and other income to your RMD your adjusted gross income could place you into higher IRMAA brackets. If you cover RMDs in a future video you might want to mention this. AGI is very important to retirees.

You should always have 6-12 months worth of bills, mortgage or rent in savings

In my calculations, RMD and no more is required based on my life expectancy AND that it soon becomes way more money than projected inflation of current income requires. Therefore, my strategies have me depositing the excess income from RMD into non-retirement investment accounts. Calculations then find that in my late years (90's), the RMD is no longer sufficient and it's these non-retirement investment accounts that fund life. NOBODY wants to be living on the streets due to mismanagement of their carefully planned out funds. I would say 84% of retirees are correct! Yes, I have ROTH too. But, company still matches in traditional 401(k). Ran the math in spreadsheets for conversion... found it works out better to not convert.

My wife has a pension so I assume they have a RMD?

DOGGIE!

Banks are biggest mafia. And I never had business with chase. My favorite credit union way to go.

You can donate from taxable accounts, and you will not have to pay taxes on it some cases.

I’d just find a new bank. Ally and keep some cash on hand.

Here's the thing, if you have to take debt or ask someone for money cuz its not easy to take $400 out, then the survey stands. 400 is a small nunber that if finances are good should be a no brainer. Access to credit is not the same as having easy access to enough cash savings.

I’m 53, so I’m over a decade away from retirement. My plan is to withdraw enough money from my traditional 401k every year to “fill up” my 12% (or 15% if Congress doesn’t lets the Trump tax cuts expire) every year and withdraw the rest of what I want/need from my Roth accounts until I have to start taking RMD’s. My goal is to never need to withdraw more than I plan on taking due to RMDs by spending down my traditional 401k in my early years of retirement and use my Roth IRA and Roth 401k in my later years. I’m experienced and Congress isn’t known for lowering tax rates. I expect my tax rates when I’m retired to be higher than they are right now.

I am not close to RMD age but trying to learn everything now to formulate strategies for the future. We are converting our Traditional IRA's SEP's to our ROTH's. We hope to have very little money in our traditional vehicles at the time of RMD's, however. Do we (Wife and I) make our calculations individually or collectively? Do we add the $$ in each account to make the calculation (457+401K+SEP) to get a total for each individual to put into the calculator?

The avg. American is having a tough time, I know I am not alone. There are others in same position as me. By certain statistics: 22% of americans have no retirement savings. 64% are worried that they will not have money in latter years while 47% of adults who are not yet retired think they have to work part-time in retirement. How can I best grow the 100k I have saved seperately outside retirement access which of course had depleted over the years?

Erin: Thank you for your channel. I’m retired and started taking RMDs when I turned 69 1/2 years old (the limit back then). I am now 78. When I began my RMD I shifted all of my charitable giving to QCD’s to reduce the tax bite and shifted to the Standard Deduction (which greatly simplified tax preparation). I currently limit my annual IRA withdrawal to the net of RMD, less the QCD and income taxes. I can and will withdraw more, but only if I need it because you never know what the future holds. I’m not denying myself of anything (that money can buy) in retirement. Retirement is more about pursuing passions (you couldn’t pursue as fully because you were working), relationships, experiences and legacy. Hope you find this feedback useful.

I’m far away from RMD age, but for me it’s the ability to transfer the assets more easily to beneficiaries after my death. I can decide whomever gets what percentage, regardless of if they are family, and without having to think about probate, etc.

I think a lot of people don't think about the fact that you don't have to spend the RMD. You can take out the RMD plus whatever it takes to just barely miss the next tax bracket, and then put that money into another investment account. The new investment account won't be the tax sheltered retirement account but it can still be kept in the market to grow.

You know, I'm starting to think about retiring soon. I've been saving for years, but with the market being so unpredictable, I'm not sure what to expect.

I retired at the end of 2023 at 60. My plan currently is to do some Roth conversions to avoid high RMDs when that time comes. I don't plan on taking SS till 70. Also by spending down the pretax accounts, before I take SS, this reduces the size of the pretax accounts at RMD age so the RMDs are more inline with the planned withdrawals.