"Take it."
Oh, I will. More than happy to. The only downside is, we'll get out of a sweet, sweet tax pocket we've been in for years. Ever since the bride retired, our bracket dropped, and we had to start withdrawing from our retirement accounts, since my annual profits from the tax biz aren't enough to pay out annual bills (admittedly outsized now...she's got time for design, and loves any and all travel). We've taken out well over six figures, all from taxable IRAs. And ALL at a lower rate than I'll start paying next year.
Up to this point, each December, I look at where we are, and when we'll go into a higher federal tax bracket (a BIG no-no!). For the last 4-5 years, I've taken out MORE from the taxable IRA in December than we needed, to get to the cusp of the higher bracket...paid income taxes at the lower level...
...and turned around and maxed out our Roth IRA accounts for the year! And since Roths have no RMDs, and we've been raiding our Taxable IRAs while in the low bracket, we'll have less to HAVE to take out once RMDs start in 3-4 years.
But, and here's the rub, social security makes pensions more taxable, and vice-versa. There's a pocket in the tax code where an additional $10,000 adds $18500 to your taxable income, But at 70, you really have to start taking Social Security; otherwise you'll get ALL your backlogged money in the first month's deposit, and all that income will be taxable in the year received.
So I'll be thrilled when it starts. But I'll miss the sweet, sweet option of paying taxes WHERE I want, WHEN I want, and AT THE RATE I want.
