LPL's RMD estimator brings age-73 rules to the client meeting

LPL Financial's new Required Minimum Distribution estimator turns the recently revised withdrawal rules into a single figure for the client meeting: the annual amount the IRS will expect them to take, based on age and account balance.

The calculation rests on the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table, the schedule that covers most retirees. The rules underneath it have changed: the starting age for RMDs rose to 73, and the IRS issued new life expectancy tables. Someone estimating from the same balance will come away with a number that differs from what the old rules produced.

The estimator also flags the spousal exception, which can lower the required amount: when the sole beneficiary is a spouse more than ten years younger, a separate IRS table typically applies. It reminds users that 401(k), traditional IRA, and defined-contribution withdrawals are taxed as ordinary income, and that taking money before 59½ may draw a 10% federal penalty.

Advisors get a client-facing hook. An RMD estimate opens the retirement-income conversation: how much headroom remains for a Roth conversion, whether a qualified charitable distribution is worth doing, and which account to drain first. LPL's release frames the number as a baseline and points clients toward a tax or financial professional, leaving the advisor to add the individualized layers.

The release arrives when RMD rules are a dependable source of client confusion: the higher starting age, fresh life expectancy tables, and the inherited-account clocks from the SECURE Act have all shifted the math. A simple estimator won't untangle all of that. It does give the advisor and client one agreed number to start from, which is more than most RMD conversations now have.