Take advantage of the lower tax bracket now by doing tIRA conversions to Roth up to your expected tax bracket in retirement. That will lower your future RMDs.
We don’t have a low tax bracket now while we’re working, it’s as bad as it can get. However, after retirement it will go down until RMD’s kick in, then thinking it will go back up to what it is now. Of course tax rates keep changing, likely they will eventually means test SS, so it’s all a crapshoot anyways.
Then take the opportunity of the lower tax bracket (for a couple of years?) to convert some tIRA to Roth to lower future RMD’s.
" just put our numbers into a Schwab RMD calculator. The final age they calculated it out was age 115. Umm…what?? "
those numbers reflect the government mandated IRA minimum distributions.
Dont ask me why they run all the way to age 115. All of the calculators do.
If you want to take out more each year you can, but not less.
The IRS table uses the same factor, 1.9 for age 115 and over. 1/1.9 = 52.6%, so if you (and your IRA) make it to age 115 your RMD will be 52.6% of the remaining balance, and the RMD will remain at 52.6% for every year beyond 115. (good luck!)
@Jym626 If you are turning 66 then you were born before 1954. So is your husband younger than you? ie, born 1954 or after. I am waiting until age 70 to collect my own social security, but because we were both born before 1954, my wife (6 months older than me) went ahead and started her own Social Security when I turned 66, so she is getting a little more than her full retirement benefit and I am getting 50% of her full retirement benefit as a spousal benefit. You can only do this if you and your spouse were born before 1954.
Actually, that works if one working spouse was born prior to Jan 2-1954. (The SS counts birthdays on the 1st as the prior month, so Jan 1-54 birthdays are counted as of 12-31-53.)
@NJres - have already turned 66, which is what prompted our thoughts about this. And yes, DH was born several years after 1954 ( guess I am a cougar?) and he is still working full time. I am part time. We have converted as much as we could to Roths, but I hadn’t thought about the Medicare IRMAA. Where is there an easy to read table to look into the surcharge?
Thanks for that article, @bluebayou. More to read/ponder…
I think if it were me and I didn’t need my social security I’d let it grow to age 70.
I feel that they are going to cut benefits at some point and if you at least wait to age 70, after the cut you’ll probably get what you would’ve got had you taken it early.ha
There are plenty of summary tables out there, but also available on page 5 of the 2019 link below. Note that IRMMA is a cliff — one dollar of income over the threshold and you pay higher premiums for both Part B and Part D for the next 12 months. For example, one dollar over the threshold could mean ~$650 more for Part B.
Hope this isn’t off topic but it concerns setting up Medicare (A and B ?) correctly. Neither wife nor I are collecting SS at this time. I still have a few years before I hit 65. My wife if quite a bit younger than I am, loves her job and plans to work for several years past my 65th birthday. We currently enjoy great medical benefits through her employer and I’d like to keep it that way. However, I understand that I still need to register even if I plan to remain on her medical plan for several years. Is this correct? Can anyone clarify?
A few months before you turn age 65, call the Medicare 800 number and discuss with them. It’s very easy. I think they’ve done it one or two other times. 
@Rivet2000, as I understand it, and I am close to activating Medicare, it’s a no-brainer to sign up for (free) Part A at 65.
The decision point relates to Part B (and Part D) which trigger surcharges based on income and penalties if you do not sign up when first eligible. The penalties continue for your lifetime. Another consideration is if your wife’s medical plan requires Medicare B enrollment for Medicare eligible family members.
Due to potential changes in the interim, I suggest you put this on your calendar to start researching about 8 months before your 65th birthday.
Thanks.
Here’s a PSA to check your Social Security info online. Last week, I happened to look at my record for the first time in a couple years, and it said I made a whopping $3,900 for all of 2018. I have no idea where this crazy low number came from. Although I found it impossible to get an actual person on the phone by calling the main SS phone number (it actually hung up on me after saying that the busiest times were early in the day and in the month), I was successful by asking for a call from a pop-up menu online. They took down all my salary and tax info (including employer ID number), told me to mail in my W2 to my local office and that it would be fixed. I’m still waiting for that but since I just mailed it in Friday I’m hoping it will be fixed without more phone calls, but I’m not holding my breath.
My record also says I earned nothing during two years of college, which wasn’t true, but I’m assuming since those years will not be counted in my most recent 35 years of employment that’s not a problem.
@Barbalot Social security counts your 35 highest earning years, but each year is WEIGHTED !!! The weighting can (and usually does) change which years are your highest earning years. For example, I earned $3841 in 1975, but the factor for 1975 is 5.83, so those earnings count as a weighted $22,393, so would rank ahead of $20,000 earned last year (If I had earned that much 
) , where the factor is 1.0. You might want to check and see how much you earned during those college years and what their weighted value is, because they could actually increase your social security benefit. It’s a bit contrived, but it’s not too complicated to calculate it yourself. Social security will walk you through the steps if you want to do it.
https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/COLA/awifactors.html
Thanks for that explanation! It explains so much!
There seems is a stay-at-home-mom (or flex-time mom) penalty in this system. That is, let’s hypothesize a parent who opted to cut back on work hours or quit their job entirely in their 20’s or 30’s in order be home when the children were small — and then returns to work when the kids are teenagers. Those early years of under-employment during high index years are going to have a disproportionate impact as compared to a person who maintains high earnings early on, but perhaps due to a layoff or other career change, does not earn at a full-time rate later on. (I am realizing this because it explains why my ex seemed to have a higher SS index than me even though my earnings were so much higher in recent years — but he did earn way more than me during those early years of our marriage when I worked less than full time.)
Yeah, @calmom, that stay-at-home or work-part-time mom penalty really bugs me. My husband’s SS monthly amount is double mine, but he is a lot older…We wound up contributing a little bit to my Roth each month during those years.
I went thru my earnings records just last week as I was shredding really old tax files. Found that there was one error, which ironically just happened to be when I worked for the feds – the then US Department of Health, Education and Welfare, of which SSA was a division! Even tho it was back in the dark ages, I still completed the form, copied my old W2, and mailed it in. Not expecting a change to my FRA, but might as well correct the records. I’m guessing it’ll take them 8+ weeks to update.
Protip: nearly everything one needs from SS is available online, as are the forms. Worth googling first, as opposed to waiting on indefinite hold.
@mominva - I am on Medicare A but not B, as I am still on DH’s healthcare plan. When I am ready to sign up for Part B, I will get a proof of credible coverage form filled out by his employer. I have that form here somewhere… (I met with the SS folks when I singed up for A so I didn’t run the risk of incurring the penalty).