Your primary goal in saving for retirement may be to ensure that you have enough money to cover your expenses during your senior years. But you may also have a secondary goal – to amass enough of a fortune to leave some of that wealth behind to your heirs, whether it's your grown kids or your grandchildren.
The problem, though, is that most tax-advantaged retirement savings plans make it difficult to leave money behind to your loved ones. That's because most of these plans impose what are known as required minimum distributions, or RMDs.
RMDs begin at age 72, and the amount you're forced to remove from your savings each year hinges on your account balance and your life expectancy at the time. Failing to take an RMD results in a huge penalty – losing 50% of the sum you fail to remove.
Maurie Backman | USA Today