
Here’s my simple explanation of required minimum distributions (RMDs): At age 73 or 75 (if you were born in 1960 or after), Uncle Sam knocks on your door and asks you to pay taxes on your tax-deferred investments.
You’ve gone perhaps years without paying taxes on these accounts, and he’s $37 trillion in debt. In more technical terms, an RMD is when you take out a specific percentage (based on the IRS life expectancy table) from your tax-deferred investments (401(k)s, IRAs, etc.) and pay taxes on it.