Online Appendix to 'The Effects of Required Minimum Distribution Rules on Withdrawals from Traditional Individual Retirement Accounts'

Abstract

Traditional Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) are a substantial source of retirement savings. In 2013, individuals age 60 or older held $3.8 trillion in wealth in IRAs. Under current law, some fraction of these funds must be withdrawn each year beginning the year one turns 70.5 years of age, with the required fraction increasing in age. We study the effects of these Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) rules on the decumulation behavior of retirees using a 16-year panel of administrative tax data. Our data consist of a 5% random sample of individuals age 60 or older from 1999 to 2014, with approximately 2.6 million individuals per year. This period encompasses a unique policy change that we exploit for identification: a one-year suspension of the RMD rules in 2009. Though the RMD rules are modest – leaving one third of the original balance intact by age 90 even if investments generate zero returns – our empirical analysis shows they have large effects on behavior. We estimate that 52% of individuals subject to the rules would prefer to take an IRA distribution less than their required minimum. However, our estimate for the proportion of constrained individuals who took advantage of the RMD suspension in 2009 is 62%. The remaining 38% did not re-optimize, perhaps due to inattention or other optimization frictions. In addition, we document an extensive margin effect among 70.5-year olds: individuals newly subject to the rules are 28% more likely to close their IRAs relative to other age groups. The findings suggest that there are costs associated with paying attention to the RMD rules and that the rules represent a binding constraint for the majority of retirees with IRAs.