This is a reply to "biker1", who says he/she does not see a problem with making an RMD withdrawal this year. The problem is clear as day: the present IRS law says YOU have to make a withdrawal from your retirement account this year. It does not matter whether you have bonds, stocks, cash, etc. in that retirement account. So whatever total value you have, it will be reduced by the amount you have to withdraw. Just how many retirees have all cash in a retirement account so as not to be affected by the plummeting stock market (and it will continue), which would be earning less than .50% or so and on which any retirees live on and pay daily expenses. More often than not, every such retirement account has been grievously affected by the downturn in the present market, so if you say there is no problem in reducing such an account by the amount of an RMD this year, you probably would be a person I would not want to come any where near my account. Let's hope the Treasury Secretary or Members of Congress think differently; they sure did when the 2009 financial crisis hit, when the RMD withdrawal was postponed for a year.
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