The rules for inherited IRAs are not friendly.

Currently. The rules were switched after we had accumulated a good amount in Traditional IRAs and 401Ks. Originally we had planned to set the boys up with the idea of take RMDs and let the rest ride. That now has been reduce to a 10 year time frame, instead of their lifetime, which is how I get to draw on the IRA I inherited from my dad. Because of that, we find ourselves needing to realize taxes in our lifetime via Roth Conversions, as forcing the kids to take it out over 10 years will be a killer tax wise. IN HINDSIGHT, realizing that we did not even originally have Roth IRAs available to us, I would have just stuck the funds in something like BRK.B, but for us that's not an option, as the funds are where they are and there will be tax consequences. If you are still making contributions, for you it may be one. In the meantime, if you are dealing with owning Traditional IRAs and 401Ks, you should be considering conversions. The financial planner we had at the time, having fired a ways back, tried to tell us that it didn't matter....you get taxed now or you get taxed later. I had to show him the numbers I had run and he had to agree with me that it did indeed matter.

Sorry to say that it gets harder and harder to maintain trust in the US Government. Feel a bit like having been given a bait and switch where they get to change the rules and our funds are held captive, but trying to focus more on how to minimize the damage they have done rather than dwell on it.

IP