RMD?

[pb4uski]

Very different from my experience... I have both taxable and tax-deferred accounts... they operate the same other than tax reporting and Vanguard does all the "bookkeeping".

The only real difference for me is that when I sell the taxable accounts I have to decide which lots to sell for tax purposes.

 

[bingybear]

My problem with investing the excess outside of tIRA/401(k) is that the book keeping can be more complicated (keeping track of trades, what's taxable at what level, keeping paper work, etc.) So, I could see me dumping the excess into CDs or worse just to avoid dealing with the book keeping. I know some of you thrive on this stuff but I hate it. I've always used an accountant for my taxes, but even then, I have to keep track of all the bits and pieces of paper that come in. YMMV

Pieces of paper? Maybe you are thinking of the time before brokerages had to keep track basis, then I can understand some of the pain you are talking about. If you trade in simple stuff (MF, ETF, Stocks) for tax reporting you should just need the 1099-composite for your taxes. I would recommend taking MRD in cash as I'm not sure how well tracking basis and date would work when moving from IRA to after tax. You would want the basis on the day of MRD and purchase on that date.
If you're concerned more with real time info so you can decide which lots to sell (to know date, basis, embedded gain/loss, etc), both brokers I use (schwab & fidelity) have simple web tools to sort that out.

 

[RunningBum]

Currently my RMDs are about what I would otherwise take from my 401(k) for expenses. BUT RMDs accelerate AND if one is lucky, the value of the 401(k) (or tIRA, etc.) can increase due to good results. Hence, I may eventually be taking much more in RMDs than I need. A good problem to have, I suppose.

My problem with investing the excess outside of tIRA/401(k) is that the book keeping can be more complicated (keeping track of trades, what's taxable at what level, keeping paper work, etc.) So, I could see me dumping the excess into CDs or worse just to avoid dealing with the book keeping. I know some of you thrive on this stuff but I hate it. I've always used an accountant for my taxes, but even then, I have to keep track of all the bits and pieces of paper that come in. YMMV

As pb4 says, just let Vanguard or Fido or any other place track it for you.

People here may make it sound more complicated by talking about selling by specific ID, tax loss harvesting, etc, but 1) this really isn't too complicated or 2) you can just choose FIFO as your cost basis method and it will probably make very little difference.

All these places will send you a consolidated 1099 at the end of the year that has all your dividends and trades on it, including the cost basis info, so you just hand that document to your accountant just like you'd hand them your interest statement on the CDs.