John, very good to see you. Today we're going to talk through three RMD claiming strategies to reduce your tax burden in retirement. So important. Let's just start at the top, though. What are RMDs and how are they calculated? Yeah, so RMDs are required minimum distribution. So you're at the point in your life where the government says you need to take out x amount of dollars, because we want the tax money from that knowledge, and this is for your retirement account. So for one case, IRAs, 457, Bs, any tax deferred, not Roth, but tax deferred account. So the old rules used to be 70 and a half was RMD age. Then when we got around the securax, they bumped it up to 72 now it's age 73 and in the future, for people born after 1960 it'll be age 75 so here's the thing, and December 31 of the prior year. So let's use 2025 as an example. Erin, you take your December 31 2024, balance of all your retirement accounts tax deferred right now, here's the kicker that I want to take a little side note on. If you are retired and you are a lover of all these different company plans, and you have a couple 401, K is a, 450, 7b, and IRA, now's the time to consolidate into one or multiple IRAs, because you are actually going to have to take RMDs from each and every one of those accounts. So if you have 2401 Ks, you have to take two separate RMDs. If you have a 450, 7b then you have to take an RMD from there, and then you have to take the RMD from your IRA, right? So in that example, you're taking four different RMDs. That's four chances to mess this up. So what I tell people is, if you're retired, consolidate everything into one, or you can actually have multiple IRAs, because a distribution from one IRA can satisfy the other IRA account. So that's the first thing you want to do. The second thing is, when it comes to distributions, is understand this an RMD only becomes an issue if you are not taking out the required amount. So let's say you are already taking out $50,000 in general, in distribution from your IRA, and your RMDs are 40,000 then you're fine. But it becomes an issue with people who have much larger IRAs and have to take out six figures, or those people with pensions that aren't taking out distributions. This is where the government's going to say, Hey, listen, you have a million dollars in an IRA. We want our 40, $45,000 depending on your age and the uniform table that's calculated out. And you're going to take out that distribution each and every year from the ages we discussed and beyond. And John, I know that you are very certain your clients all take those RMDs when they need to, because if you miss an RMD, there is a stiff penalty. Yes, this is a in the beginning of the year, we send our clients RMB ledgers, and We notate exactly on the ledgers when distributions, how those distributions are taken. So there is absolute clarity in this. And here's why, if you do not take that distribution by December 31, of that year, just like you said, Erin, there is a stiff 25% excise penalty on that, plus the income tax on that penalty. Now the good news is, it used to be a 50% penalty. They reduced it. Here's the bad news. In the past, if you miss an RMD, we would tell, you know, and this happened with a couple prospective clients, and we say, Hey, listen, you have to take this RMD ticket. Now we'll submit a form telling the IRS, listen. We, we made a miss, you know, we missed this, but we, we ratified it. We did take the distribution and in all the cases that that we had, and that I read about, the IRS would waive the penalty, but now with the fear is now by by waiving or reducing the excise penalty, that they're going to be far more strict in enforcing that. And folks, if you do not take your RMD it's not just for one year. They will go back and back and back, and they're going to hit you with penalties, interest the excise. Do not miss these RMDs. Yeah. No, definitely not. All right, so now let's get into those strategies. And the first would be to start draining those accounts, start taking those distributions as soon as you're able, before they're required, and you can start taking those distributions as early as 59 and a half, yeah, and this is, it's a great idea. We've talked about this a lot in maximizing Social Security, right? Because you're going to start draining down these assets and your Social Security build up, which is no R and D attached to that. But again, you want to look at your specific situation. Obviously, if you're working and you're you have, you know, high income, you may not want to do that a lot of people, which we encourage early on in retirement, you know, are going on vacations. This is a great way to spend that money down, and you're going to reduce your RMDs later. But you really also want to understand your tax situation. You just don't want to take out this money that you're not going to use to put it into a taxable account that you're going to pay more taxes on so using that, it's a great idea, but you want to, you know, enjoy life with that money. Don't, don't save it for another tax taxable event. And now let's get to your most favorite strategy around for many different reasons. Roth conversions, yes. So we can build on that first strategy by saying, Well, if I don't need the money, instead of putting it in a taxable account, let's do a Roth conversion. Let's buy the IRS out at today's rate, and I get it. Nobody likes paying taxes, but eventually you're going to pay tax on that money. Here's the advantage you have. You are paying at a tax rate that you understand, right? You know what the tax brackets are. You know what your tax bill is going to be with proper planning. And that takes out the whole uncertainty of what our taxes could easily look like in 1015, or 20 years. So you're buying out the IRS. And guess what? Erin, guess what? Is what you what account you do not have to take an RMD from. Yeah, those Roths, your Roth. IRA, so you're taking that money, you're you're taking it from the the left side of of tax forever, and putting it into the right side of tax free and RMD free, going ahead and you bought it, bought out that future tax liability. And of course, when our one of our favorite reasons to do the Roth conversion, you're also helping out yourself or your spouse in the event of a spousal death in the widow tax now, I do want to ask a question, though, because there's some sticky rules regarding RMDs and Roth conversions. Explain that, please, John, yes, you cannot. And I love the idea. I've had this in workshops. I've taught people say, well, I'll just do a Roth conversion when I take my required minimum distribution. And government doesn't allow that you cannot take your RMD and use it as a Roth conversion. So in that instance, right? Yeah, the clocks run out. Now you have to take out your required minimum distribution. You cannot take the distribution as a Roth conversion. You have to take your RMD first, then you can do a Roth conversion after that, but understand, you're going to have the tax from the RMD than the tax from the conversion. So as we discussed, it's better to do this planning as early as possible. All right, now, let's touch on our last strategy, which is a qualified charitable distribution Can you explain how this works? Yeah, and this is a powerful strategy. This is now, you know, we're getting to the point where, you know RMDs are knocking on your doorstep and you don't have any more time to do Roth conversion planning, qualified charitable distributions, very powerful, especially if you are charitably inclined, because you are going to take the money from your IRA. And this, you don't actually don't have to be RMD age to do this. You can actually still be 70 and a half. So if you don't have to pay RMDs till 73 but you're charitably inclined, and you're 71 years old, you can make qualified charitable distributions. But for this example, you're 73 you have to take out an RMD you're charitably inclined. What I would tell my clients, and I have coached my clients on this, is we are going to take the first distributions from that IRA account, and we're going to make a check directly made out to the charity and a qualified charitable distribution that is a way to satisfy part of, if not all of your RMD and pay zero tax and and we are goals and values based financial planning firm, you get to satisfy your charitable heart, so you are literally killing three birds with one stone. Yeah, it really is such a great strategy. And I do want to point out to people who are watching that we have several separate in depth videos on Roth conversions and qcds in case they want to watch those videos on their own time. But John, if somebody has questions about RMDs or any of these strategies, what's the best way to reach you? Yeah, you can visit our website, www.gosecurus.com, like you said, we have tons of videos on the taxation of Roth conversions, what you should consider and the tax advantages and the great stories of how we save clients 1000s of dollars through qcds, all on our website, www.gosecurus.com while you're on the website, you can visit the contact us tab, and there you can schedule a 20 minute phone call or answer any general questions. Or you can schedule a complimentary vision and clarity consultation. Or if you have a video suggestion or a question, you can go ahead and email us at info at www.gosecurus.com. John, thank you for your time today. Thank you, Erin.