with planning - and taking more of the RMD prior to getting on Medicare, it can reduce the IRMAA tranche you are eventually in.... as I noted above, it takes planning and thought, so there are things you can do about it.
Further, while I agree that directionally something like 1/10, 1/9, 1/8 per year makes sense; that approach and 10 smooth payments would infer no gains on the investment.
For example, and this is where the planning and thought has to come into play. A 5% return on investment would mean the distribution at the end of each year would need to be something like the chart below, which is more aggressive in the early years than a simple 1/10, 1/9, etc. Then the distributions are smooth each year.
And then someone may want to be even more aggressive to get to the top of a particular tax bracket. It is complicated and not for the faint of heart.
| 1 | 13% |
| 2 | 14% |
| 3 | 16% |
| 4 | 17% |
| 5 | 20% |
| 6 | 23% |
| 7 | 29% |
| 8 | 37% |
| 9 | 55% |
| 10 | 100% |
