6 Questions Retirees Are Asking About Required Minimum Distributions

Readers had a lot of follow-up questions about their own situations after reading my columns about when to take your first required minimum distribution from an IRA and the benefits of transferring your RMD directly from your IRA to charity. Here are some answers.

If I turn 70½ in October, can I take my first now, or must I wait until October? Any distribution you. And because it's your first RMD, you actually have until April 1 of the following year to make your first withdrawal. So if you turn 70½ in 2018, any distribution you make in 2018 and up until April 1, 2019, can count as your RMD. (After that first required withdrawal, you have to take your RMDs by December 31 each year. So if you wait until 2019 to take that first withdrawal, you'll have to take two RMDs in 2019. "We usually recommend customers take the 2018 RMD by December 2018," says Cassidy.)