When Should You Take Your Required Minimum Distribution?

When is the right time of the year to take your Required Minimum Distribution?  Will your major home improvement retain its value?  And the challenge of being an optimist in a world full of pessimism.  We talk about all these things next.

• 0:00-Intro
• 0:27- When during the year should you take your RMD?
• 4:04-Will your major home improvement retain its value?
• 7:24-being an optimist in a pessimistic world
• 13:42-What’s on your summer “binge watch” list
• 15:29-Summer vacation
• 17:10-We will be live, send us your questions.

 Watch Now:  When Should You Take Your Required Minimum Distribution?

When during the year should you take your required minimum distribution?

Last week, we covered required minimum distributions in detail.  But we didn’t answer one question:  When—during the year—should you take it?  Should you take it early in the year, later in the year or should you spread it out?

The best answer is you take it when you need the money.  If you have a pressing need, a planned expense, or another use for those funds, take your distribution when the need arises.

If you do not have a pressing need, the answer then gets more complicated.  History tells us 4 of every 5 years results in positive returns for stocks.  So in many cases waiting to take your RMD makes sense.  But then there are years when the market doesn’t go up, and taking it early would have been the better choice.

Turns out, taking your RMD out quarterly tends to give you a slight advantage over time.

Will your major home improvement retain it’s value?

Many homeowners will face the decision to make a major update or upgrade to their homes.  Many times, we justify the outlay by saying, “we will get the money back when we sell the house.”  

That may not be the case.   Many times, those expenses to replace your bathroom or your kitchen may only be worth $.60 on the dollar when you go to sell it.

What should you consider when looking at this decision?  Ask yourself these questions:

• How long do you plan to keep the house?
• Do you have to borrow the money?
• How badly are the repairs/updates needed?

We aren’t suggesting you shouldn’t make those updates, but you need to look at it from all angles.

Staying optimistic when the world is full of pessimism.

The news media only reports on the planes that crash, not the thousands that land safely every day.   And lately, it seems like all the planes are falling out of the sky!

There is no shortage of pessimistic viewpoints; they generate clicks and views.  But pessimism also makes for a difficult investment strategy.   When you look back through history, the world has been constantly improving.  

And the great businesses that make up the Stock Market have continued to innovate, become more efficient, and more profitable.  

It’s not to say bad things won’t happen—because they will.  But by and large, the good times are longer and more impactful than the bad ones.

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