RMDs, rollovers & Roth conversions
This is where retirement planning gets genuinely mathematical — and where the Portfolio Analyzer & Withdrawal Simulator picks up once you know the rules. This page covers the rules themselves: how much you can still contribute, when you're forced to start withdrawing, and how to move money between accounts without an accidental tax bill.
Portfolio Analyzer & Withdrawal Simulator
Once you know the rules on this page, model them against your actual accounts — fund-level portfolio analysis, RMDs, Roth conversions, Social Security and healthcare costs, and a full Monte Carlo retirement projection, all in one tool.
01 Five things to get right
| Account & age | 2026 limit |
|---|---|
| 401(k)/403(b), under 50 | $24,500 |
| 401(k)/403(b), age 50+ catch-up | +$8,000 ($32,500 total) |
| 401(k)/403(b), age 60–63 "super" catch-up | +$11,250 ($35,750 total) |
| IRA (traditional or Roth), under 50 | $7,500 |
| IRA, age 50+ catch-up | +$1,100 ($8,600 total) |
Once you reach your RMD age, you must withdraw at least a minimum amount each year from most pre-tax retirement accounts (traditional 401(k)s and IRAs, SEP/SIMPLE IRAs). Roth IRAs owned by the original owner are exempt from RMDs during their lifetime.
| Born | RMD age |
|---|---|
| 1950 or earlier | Already subject to RMDs (age 72 or earlier under prior law) |
| 1951 – 1959 | 73 |
| 1960 or later | 75 |
How it's calculated
Take your account balance as of December 31 of the prior year, divide it by the IRS "distribution factor" for your age (from the Uniform Lifetime Table). Example: a $262,000 balance at age 76 uses a factor of 23.7, giving an RMD of about $11,055.
| Age | Distribution factor |
|---|---|
| 73 | 26.5 |
| 75 | 24.6 |
| 80 | 20.2 |
Deadlines
- Your first RMD can be delayed until April 1 of the year after you reach your RMD age.
- Every RMD after that — including the one for the year you delayed into — is due by December 31.
- Delaying the first one means you'll take two RMDs in the same calendar year, which can push you into a higher tax bracket — often it's better to just take the first one on time.
Direct (trustee-to-trustee) rollover
Money moves straight from one custodian to another — you never touch it. No withholding, no tax consequence, and it doesn't count against the one-per-year rule below. This is the safest way to move money and should be your default.
Indirect (60-day) rollover
The custodian sends the money to you, and you have 60 days to deposit it into another retirement account. Miss the deadline and the whole amount becomes a taxable distribution (plus a 10% penalty if you're under 59½). Worse: if it comes from a 401(k), the plan is required to withhold 20% for taxes automatically — so you'd need to come up with that 20% out of pocket to complete a full rollover, and claim the withheld amount back at tax time.
The one-per-year IRA rollover rule
You can only do one indirect (60-day) IRA-to-IRA rollover in any 12-month period, across all your IRAs combined. This rule doesn't apply to direct trustee-to-trustee transfers or to Roth conversions — so when in doubt, ask for a direct transfer instead.
A Roth conversion moves money from a pre-tax account (traditional IRA/401(k)) into a Roth IRA. You pay ordinary income tax on the converted amount now, in exchange for tax-free growth and withdrawals later, and no RMDs on that money during your lifetime. There's no income limit on who can convert — that's what makes the strategy available to high earners even though Roth IRA contributions are income-limited.
Trap 1: the pro-rata rule
If you have both pre-tax and after-tax (non-deductible) money across your traditional IRAs, you can't cherry-pick which dollars to convert tax-free. The IRS treats every conversion as proportional across your total IRA balance. Example: if 75% of your combined IRA balance is pre-tax, then 75% of any amount you convert is taxable — even if you intended to convert only after-tax dollars.
Trap 2: the five-year rules
There are two separate five-year clocks, and confusing them is common:
- The account clock: your first Roth IRA must be open 5 years before earnings can come out tax-free (in addition to being 59½+).
- The conversion clock: each conversion has its own 5-year clock before the converted principal can come out penalty-free if you're under 59½. Once you're 59½ or older, this particular clock no longer matters.
Covered on the Roadmap page, worth repeating here since it directly affects rollover timing: if you leave a job in or after the year you turn 55, you can withdraw penalty-free from that employer's 401(k) — but only that account, and only if you leave the money there. Rolling that balance into an IRA before you need it can forfeit this option, since the Rule of 55 doesn't apply to IRAs. If you might need the money between 55 and 59½, think carefully before rolling a 401(k) into an IRA.