RMD at age 94: 10.53% of your balance

How do you calculate your RMD at 94?

Take each account’s balance on December 31 of last year and divide it by 9.5, the IRS factor for 94. On a $500,000 IRA that’s $52,632 for the year — about $4,386 a month if you’d rather spread it out. You can take more, but never less, and the extra doesn’t count toward next year.

1. Find last year’s December 31 balance for every traditional, SEP and SIMPLE IRA, 401(k), 403(b) and 457(b). Leave out Roth IRAs and Roth 401(k) and 403(b) money — they have no RMDs while you’re alive.
2. Use the age you reach on your birthday this year — 94 if you were born in 1932 — even if that birthday is on December 31.
3. Divide by 9.5, the Uniform Lifetime Table factor for 94 (or by the Joint and Last Survivor factor if your spouse qualifies — see below).
4. Withdraw it by the deadline: December 31, or April 1 of next year for a first RMD. You can add up your IRA RMDs and take the total from any one IRA; each 401(k) has to pay its own.

One number worth knowing: after an RMD of 10.53%, your investments have to earn about 11.8% this year just for the account to end the year where it started. Earn more and next year’s RMD grows; earn less and the account slowly shrinks — exactly what the rules intend.

Why is the RMD so large in your 90s?

Because the factor is down to 9.5: you must take 10.53% of the balance at 94, rising to 11.24% by 95. The account would need to earn 11.8% a year to stay level, so it will almost certainly shrink — by design.

A shrinking balance is not running out of money; the RMD is a withdrawal, not a spending requirement. Whatever you don’t need can be reinvested in a regular brokerage account the same day.

What should you check on your beneficiaries in your 90s?

Make sure every IRA and 401(k) names the right people, and tell them what’s coming. Because your RMDs have started, most non-spouse heirs must take yearly RMDs and empty the account within 10 years, plus any part of your final-year RMD you hadn’t taken.

Our view: if your heirs are in a higher tax bracket than you, withdrawing more than the minimum now — or giving through QCDs — can lower the family’s total tax bill. Show them the inherited IRA calculator so the rules don’t surprise them.

What if your spouse is 15 years younger?

If your spouse is your only beneficiary all year, you use the Joint and Last Survivor Table instead. At 94 with a 79-year-old spouse the factor is 12.4 rather than 9.5, so you must take 8.06% of the balance instead of 10.53%.

Two conditions, both strict: your spouse must be more than 10 years younger and the sole beneficiary of that account for the entire year. Marital status is fixed on January 1, so a divorce or a death during the year changes the table only from the next year. At a gap of exactly 10 years the two tables give the same factor. Try your own ages in the RMD calculator with a younger spouse or the joint-table lookup.

Can a qualified charitable distribution cover your RMD at 94?

Yes. Past age 70½, money sent straight from your IRA to a charity — a qualified charitable distribution (QCD) — counts toward your RMD and never shows up in your taxable income, up to $111,000 per person in 2026. It can cover part of the RMD or all of it.

At 94, that limit covers the entire RMD on any IRA balance up to $1,054,500. A QCD beats taking the RMD and then writing a check: the gift never enters your adjusted gross income, which can keep more of your Social Security untaxed and your Medicare premiums lower — even if you take the standard deduction.

The money must go directly from the IRA to the charity by December 31. It can’t come from a 401(k) — to give from 401(k) money, take that plan’s RMD for the year first (an RMD can’t be rolled over), then roll the rest into an IRA — or from an ongoing SEP or SIMPLE IRA. The IRS has not announced the 2027 limit yet. Not announced yet

Gift on your mind but not sure how much? On $500,000 the whole $52,632 RMD could go to charity; next year at 95 the same balance would require $56,180.