When I first started working full-time and was able to make retirement plan contributions, I was admittedly torn between a traditional IRA and a Roth. (My employer didn't offer a 401(k) plan at first.)
I liked the idea of saving money on my taxes in the near term, which a traditional IRA allows for. But I also liked the idea of tax-free withdrawals in retirement, which you get with a Roth IRA.
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These days, funding a traditional retirement plan makes sense for me from a tax perspective. But back when I was in a lower tax bracket, I wish I would've taken advantage of a Roth IRA.
See, one thing I neglected to consider back then was that Roth retirement accounts don't just give you tax-free withdrawals in retirement. They also don't impose required minimum distributions, or RMDs.
For many people, RMDs aren't a problem. If you're forced to withdraw, say, $12,000 a year from your traditional IRA or 401(k) but were already planning to withdraw $1,000 a month to cover living expenses, there's really no issue.
RMDs become more of a sore spot when you don't need the money. The reason? Not only do they mean your money stops growing in a tax-advantaged manner, but they can also create a huge tax liability for you.
Say you have enough income from Social Security and other sources that there's no need to touch your traditional IRA or 401(k) in retirement. If you're forced to take a $30,000 RMD, you're going to pay taxes on that sum.
Thankfully, there are a couple of strategies you can employ to avoid an unwanted RMD tax bill this year. Here are two that are definitely worth looking at.
1. Make qualified charitable distributions (QCDs)
You'll often hear that making qualified charitable distributions, or QCDs, allows you to avoid RMDs. That's not totally true.
QCDs don't technically avoid RMDs so much as satisfy them in a way that's less painful for you from a tax perspective. By donating your RMD directly to a qualifying charity, you can get out of paying taxes on the sum you donate, up to a certain limit that changes annually. In 2026, the QCD limit is $111,000.
That's a per-person limit. So if both you and a spouse need to take RMDs, you can each do a QCD of up to $111,000.
You should know, however, that only IRAs allow you to make QCDs; 401(k)s do not. If you want to do a QCD, you'll have to roll your 401(k) into an IRA.
2. Keep working to delay RMDs from your current employer's 401(k)
If you're 73 this year, it means you need to start thinking about RMDs. But if you're still working, here's some good news: You may be able to delay RMDs from your current employer's 401(k) plan.
If you're still an active employee on your employer's payroll and you don't own more than 5% of the company, you can get out of your RMD from your current employer's workplace plan. This applies even if you've shifted over to part-time work.
However, this exemption only applies to your current employer's 401(k). If you have an old 401(k) from a former employer or a separate IRA, you still have to take RMDs from those accounts.
Lessening the pain of RMDs
RMDs can be more than just a hassle. They can have serious tax consequences that hurt you in unexpected ways. For example, RMDs could raise your income so that you're subject to surcharges on your Medicare premiums down the line.
For this reason, it's important to be strategic with RMDs if you don't have an actual need to withdraw that money from your retirement savings.
