My spendable "income" comes from RMDs from inherited IRAs and from the dividends on my taxable investments. I do not have pensions or take SS. At present I do not have to sell investments to generate month-to-month cash.
System: for the past couple of years (now age 62.5) I have "paid" my checking account from two sources once a month, emulating the old paycheck days:
* dividends from my taxable accounts (dividends--> Vanguard sweep account -- txfr to external checking on 28th of each month)
* distributions from two inherited IRAs (monthly distribution -20% withholding --> external checking on28th of each month).
Once a year I do a larger manual transfer of cash from my sweep account to another external checking account to cover "lumpy" annual expenses (IRS quarterly payments, non-health insurance premiums, etc).
This has worked well for me. It probably isn't the smartest way to do things, taxwise, but as a system it has worked.
System: for the past couple of years (now age 62.5) I have "paid" my checking account from two sources once a month, emulating the old paycheck days:
* dividends from my taxable accounts (dividends--> Vanguard sweep account -- txfr to external checking on 28th of each month)
* distributions from two inherited IRAs (monthly distribution -20% withholding --> external checking on28th of each month).
Once a year I do a larger manual transfer of cash from my sweep account to another external checking account to cover "lumpy" annual expenses (IRS quarterly payments, non-health insurance premiums, etc).
This has worked well for me. It probably isn't the smartest way to do things, taxwise, but as a system it has worked.
