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Required Minimum Distributions – by Phil Smith

For those of us who have reached that period in our life called retirement, we are forced to consider making adjustments in our budgets to accommodate the new reality of a fixed income. In doing so, many of us want to continue our support for our favorite charities even though our incomes might be less.

One way we were able to continue this support was by reducing our tax obligation by a more focused management of our IRA Mandatory Retirement Distributions. Very simply, we started to use our IRA as the source of income to support our gifts and tithes. In doing so, we lowered our Adjusted Gross Income which kept us in a lower tax bracket. We also were able to maximize the use of our standard deduction on federal income taxes, without filing a Schedule A. Since we do not have a lot of eligible deductions for our Schedule A, this enabled us to use the full standard deduction while maintaining our support of our favorite charities.

This approach may not work for everyone, but if you are retired and drawing funds from your IRA, check with your financial and tax advisors to see if this is a viable option. You might be pleasantly surprised about how you can maintain your level of giving while living on a reduced retirement income. And it is very easy to do by simply issuing instructions to the manager of your IRA.

EdenRidge Missionary Retreat Center in Tennessee EdenRidge is a missionary-focused retreat and vacation destination located on the Cumberland Plateau in East Tennessee.

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