Stop scaring middle-level retired savers about RMD's

The Federal Reserve’s 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances shows:

• “Among actual retirees, only 3.2% have reached the $1 million threshold.”
• “Conditional on having retirement account balances, households aged 65–74 had a median of $250,000.”

That sounds about right when I look at my own circle of retired friends. Yet here in r/financialindependence most retirement questions I see involve tax planning for $1M, $2M, or more in savings.

So my question is: what about the retirees with $250k–$500k saved? Based on the Fed data, that should be the majority.

Take Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) as an example:

• With $250k saved, your first required distribution at age 73 is around $9,500.
• Most people at that level are going to withdraw at least that much anyway just to cover expenses.
• And with today’s standard deduction ($29,200 for married couples), a household with mainly Social Security income probably pays little or no tax on that RMD.

So, for them, RMD's shouldn't be scary at all. But you wouldn't know that from what you read.

So why don’t we hear more from the “middle-range” retirees — the folks who aren’t millionaires, but also aren’t broke?

submitted by /u/Junior-Spinach-4688
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