I know this HAS TO be on here but I could not find it.
By when/how I mean once a year, quarterly, monthly etc. Any particular reason one is better than another?
Here is the IRS link to RMD:
https://www.irs.gov/publications/p590b#en_US_2019_publink1000231238
One paragraph caught my eye:
"Distributions from individual retirement account.
If you are the owner of a traditional IRA that is an individual retirement account, you or your trustee must figure the required minimum distribution for each year. See Figuring the Owner's Required Minimum Distribution below."
My comment: If you have an IRA with Fidelity, Vanguard, etc who may be considered a "trustee", I then recommend that you contact them to determine if they will figure out the RMD for you. Perhaps they will give you the distribution options for monthly, quarterly, yearly, lump sum, etc
If they informed you that you have to figure this out yourself, then the same above link implied that you have to use the Worksheet in Appendix A. This worksheet implies that you take the value of the IRA on Dec 31 and then divide by the "distribution period" in appendix B. Table II is applicable to my situation because my wife is 20 years younger than me.
Using $1,000,000 IRA as an example, if you are age 70 and your spouse is age 50, the distribution period is 35.1. RMD= $1M/35.1= $28,490
Disclaimer: I am not a tax expert so you should verify this RMD calculation with a CPA or qualified tax advisor.
What is funny is that the publication has a situation where the guy can be age 115 and the wife is age 20. The distribution period is 63, so RMD=$1M/63 = $15,873. It appears the IRS is making sure that the 20 years old wife has sufficient money remaining in the $1M IRA to inherit.