How RMDs and account level distribution plans interact

Watch the tutorial video below for an explanation of how RMDs and account-level distribution plans interact in Income Lab.

Last published on: September 03, 2025

 

Video: How RMDs and account level distribution plans interact

Video Transcript

hello this video explains how our new

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feature that allows you to specify

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account distributions from an individual

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account um interacts with required

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minimum distributions so here's a plan

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for somebody who's already 75 so into

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required minimum distribution phase uh

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with a $2 million Ira uh nothing else in

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the plan except that we are we're trying

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to take things first from taxable

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accounts then tax deferred then taxfree

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but because we're already in the RM D

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Stage uh this person has an

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$81,000 300 uh $81,300

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distribution this year now if I add a

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distribution plan to this account of

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$90,000 a

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year as you see

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here instead of that 81,000 I'm taking

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990,000 and then as time goes on

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eventually my rmd by 202 is higher than

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the 90,000 and so the system is going to

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take more than the 90,000 in order to to

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hit the

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rmd now what if there were another Ira

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in the plan that didn't have a

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distribution uh plan so early on the

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90,000 from the uh the special Ira where

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I've put the distribution plan is more

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than enough to cover the rmd but in the

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next year it's not quite enough and so

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we take the excess from this other rmd

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from this other

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IRA and that continues until that Ira is

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gone at which point now we need to take

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it from from that special

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Ira if we had a lower distribution

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amount uh for example 10,000 a year

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instead of 90,000 a year from that Ira

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the plan is still going to try to um to

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follow your instructions on the

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distribution amount um and it'll do that

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as long as it can which in this case um

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by 2026 it can no longer keep to 10,000

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because it's going to take the entire

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amount from this Ira um plus EXs here to

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cover the full rmd then after that all

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the rmd is going to come from from that

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special Ira so to sum up um if you

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specify a distribution plan from an

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account that has

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rmds um the software is going to do its

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best to follow those uh those

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instructions but it will override them

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and take more uh if it needs to in order

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to follow rmd rules hope this helps

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thanks