Recently, legislation to suspend the rule for RMDs (Required Minimum Distributions) from retirement accounts for those over 70-1/2 was passed. The wording actually eliminated the penalty for those not making the withdrawal, effectively eliminating the requirement.
One potential benefit of this change for 2009 is that one might consider converting this amount to their Roth IRA. I believe the Roth is a great vehicle for managing one’s tax burden over time, and can be used after retirement to ‘top off’ the current tax bracket. This process slowly shifts money from a tax deferred status to a taxed, but growing tax free status. Something to consider next year.
Joe