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Strategies & Market Trends : Dividend investing for retirement -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JimisJim who wrote (22000)	2/28/2015 3:14:31 PM
From: upanddown	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 34328

My father got crushed by RMD and his refusal to accumulate the coming year's RMD cash during the previous year and was thus forced to sell a significant amount of stock at rock bottom prices. Jim, I'm curious as to what year you are referring to with your father. I'm guessing 2008? Not many Decembers since then with rock-bottom prices. FWIW, this is my experience with RMDs. I turned 75 late last year and I've been dealing with rather large RMDs for the last five years. With my wife turning 70 1/2 this year (she denies it but the IRS doesn't agree<G>), it's up to about 130K. I normally take the RMD distribution between Christmas and New Years. I don't worry about cash availability. There is always something that has gotten overweight or some dogs that you have wanted to dump for a long time anyway. It is just another way to do some clean-up and rebalancing at year end. The odds are pretty good that you are better off selling in December rather than earlier in the year since Dec is one of the best historical months and in the last 70 years, the S&P 500 is up 55 years and down just 15. If you leave sufficient cash in the IRA for the RMD at year end, it is then just dead money. If you take it out early and stash it in a taxable account, then what? If you invest that, you could generate what you don't want, which is more taxable income. All this is moot for anyone who takes their RMD in stages during the year for immediate living expenses but that doesn't sound like the case with your father. I may reserve more cash during the year if I ever approach your father's age where the RMD % is much higher but right now, the late year RMD serves as our primary income for living expenses for the following year. John

To: JimisJim who wrote (22000)	2/28/2015 11:36:17 PM
From: Aggie	1 Recommendation Recommended By CusterInvestor Read Replies (5) \| Respond to of 34328

Hi JimisJim You raise some really interesting points, and I would like to put it out to the board, the issue of financial planning. I'd be very interested to see how our board members manage their futures, if they are willing to share it. To the board: 1. In your (collective) experience what was the best way for you to get advice on retirement planning - was it from a. the brokerage house where you have your account (i.e. the E-Trades, Fidelity's, TD Ameritrade's, Schwab's of the world) or was it b. from a broker managing your account or c. from hiring your own certified financial planner - or was it d. done on your own, do-it-yourself using your own 'wit and grit' to arrive at the best answer? So far I've had no professional help with retirement / estate planning, and have done virtually all of my own retirement planning, and have been happy with the results. I initially had an investment counselor managing my brokerage account when I first got started (30 years ago). I think your post should be considered quite thought provoking. I am thinking now that I ought to at least seek the consultative input of a financial planner - but I would like to understand from others (who have) whether this was a good value for them, in retrospect. And what would you / they do different in your next life? For me, I think I would start with formal estate planning about 10 years earlier. Thanks & Regards all Aggie