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The basic concept is really pretty simple: keep annual expenses below the planned withdrawal rate of your assets. As usual, it’s the details that can get a little tricky.
When your required minimum distribution (RMD) is larger than the amount of income you need for expenses, you have many options for handling the excess. We find it is helpful to manage the extra amounts wisely in order to avoid spending more than you had planned.
Generally, for the year in which an individual turns age 70 ½ an individual must start taking distributions from their retirement accounts. Whether these amounts are needed for funding your retirement, the IRS requires that you begin taking the distributions.
It’s easy to succumb to the urge to sell if the market takes a header or buy if it’s headed upward. But sudden action is usually a mistake. In the late 1980s, Harvard psychologist Paul Andreassen made news with a research project that found that people who listened to market news actually made lower returns. Why? Because those who sold – or bought – during a market swing probably found a day later that the market was really running on hype, not fundamentals.