Portfolio Withdrawal Order and Sourcing

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Gm8VzoU8yRocC7UcWDGE
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Sep 03, 2023 7:07 pm

Portfolio Withdrawal Order and Sourcing

Post by Gm8VzoU8yRocC7UcWDGE »

Would it be possible to configure the program to allow a mixed portfolio withdrawal order?

Currently the program Settings allow only 4 choices to take withdrawals from:
1 - Taxable, tax-deferred, tax free
2 - Taxable, tax-free, tax deferred
3 - Tax-deferred, taxable, tax free
4 - Tax-free, taxable, tax deferred

Starting at retirement, I'd like to be able to calculate what taking a certain percentage from our tax deferred IRA accounts (different for myself and spouse) and the taxable account, leaving our Roth IRAs and HSAs untouched till last.

I know that best practice is typically to take from taxable, tax-deferred and tax free, in that order (#1 above and in Settings), but I'm curious how things would play out if we took a certain percentage from our tax-deferred IRAs at retirement age, and how that might impact our RMDs.

Thank you for this outstanding program/resource!
jimr
Posts: 824
Joined: Thu Feb 28, 2008 6:48 pm

Re: Portfolio Withdrawal Order and Sourcing

Post by jimr »

The program's withdrawal logic has been expanded a few times over the years, but that code is pretty deep in the weeds and I'm unlikely to mess with it again this late in the program's lifecycle. I really don't want to change anything that could introduce new bugs that destabilize the core simulation logic.

You might be able to use the Roth Conversion cashflow type to model some of this impact by specifying a few years of high value Roth conversions early in your retirement. This will move funds from tax-deferred to tax free early which should reduce RMDs (I believe tax free funds aren't subject to RMDs in most countries).
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