{"id":206106,"date":"2025-10-11T19:20:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-11T19:20:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/206106\/"},"modified":"2025-10-11T19:20:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-11T19:20:10","slug":"should-i-use-my-trust-or-ira-for-everyday-spending","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/206106\/","title":{"rendered":"Should I use my trust or IRA for everyday spending?"},"content":{"rendered":"

We\u2019re gathering your questions about all things money and finances. Then, each week, we get your questions answered by the people who know best. <\/p>\n

We got this question from Nancy in Orland Park:<\/p>\n

\u201cI am in my 80s and have cash in my trust, traditional and Roth IRAs. Which would be more prudent to use for everyday living?\u201d<\/p>\n

Andy Timmerwilke, managing director and financial adviser at Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, said it would depend on the value of each account.<\/p>\n

He said an adviser would want to start with looking at accounts with required minimum distributions, which for a traditional IRA generally starts when you reach the age of 73.<\/p>\n

\u201cDepending on the value of that distribution, if that\u2019s enough to live off of on an annual basis historically most people would stop any [other] types of distributions from that point moving forward,\u201d he said. \u201cHowever, for a lot of people they need more than that.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Andy<\/p>\n

Andy Timmerwilke, managing director and financial adviser with Merrill Lynch Wealth Management<\/p>\n

Courtesy of Merrill Lynch Wealth Management<\/p>\n

Timmerwilke said the next step would be to look at a person\u2019s trust and its portfolio. In many cases, the trust will generate income through investments such as dividends and interest from stocks, bonds and cash. But he said it\u2019s important to consider any tax implications.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor instance, dividend-paying stocks pay a different tax rate than capital gains,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is something you would want to check with your accountant or CPA [certified public accountant], as we certainly do not give tax advice. But it is important to look at those underlying investments to try to be as tax efficient as you can from the trust assets.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said a Roth IRA \u2014 similar to a traditional IRA except that qualified withdrawals are tax-free \u2014 offers a lot of flexibility for investors. Consumers don\u2019t have to touch those assets and they\u2019re not required to take an annual distribution. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf those assets are not needed to live off of, a lot of times investors will invest those for longer-term time horizons, and they\u2019ll end up passing those assets to the next generation,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

He said you can also take a distribution at any time, especially if you\u2019re 80 or older, with no income tax obligation. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou can subsidize any shortfalls with some of those potential Roth IRA distributions,\u201d Timmerwilke said.<\/p>\n

Have a financial question you want answered by an expert? Leave us a voicemail at 312-321-2122<\/a> or email us at moneyquestions@suntimes.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We\u2019re gathering your questions about all things money and finances. Then, each week, we get your questions answered…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":206107,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[64,63,99,186,184,185],"class_list":{"0":"post-206106","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-finance","12":"tag-personal-finance","13":"tag-personalfinance"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206106\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/206107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}