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RMD amounts are based on your age and account balance, so they change each year.

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Your RMD is based on your current age and your year-end account balance for the prior year.

Since both change every year, your RMD must be recalculated every year. Here's how to get started:

Contact a T. Rowe Price Retirement Specialist at 888-421-0563 who can assist you with the calculation, or calculate it yourself by using our online calculator:

1. Obtain your IRA year-end account balance(s) as of December 31 of the year prior to the calculation year.

Example: If you are calculating your 2008 RMD, find your 2007 year-end balance.

Note: If you have assets “in transit” between retirement accounts on December 31, you must include those assets in the receiving account balance.

Example: If you transferred or rolled over assets from your 403(b) to your T. Rowe Price IRA and the 403(b) assets are still in process on December 31, the assets are not actually in either account on that date. When you calculate your RMD, you must include these assets in your IRA account balance (i.e., assume they have already been received) and not in your 403(b) balance.

2. Divide your account balance on December 31 of the previous year by your age-based factor for the calculation year. To find your age-based factor, use one of the following two tables, according to your situation:

  • Joint Life and Survivor Expectancy Table
    Use this table only if your sole primary beneficiary on the account for the entire calculation year is your spouse and your spouse is more than 10 calendar years younger than you.
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Ken's birthday is in January. He is estimating his RMD for his IRA for 2009, the year he will reach age 70 in January and age 70½ in July.

  • He assumes his IRA account balance at the end of 2008 (the year previous to the calculation year) will be about $100,000.
  • He finds the factor for age 70—his age on his birthday in 2009 (the calculation year)—on the Uniform Life Table: 27.4.
  • He divides $100,000 by 27.4 and gets $3,649.64 as the estimated amount of his first RMD.
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Once you reach 70½, you are required to withdraw RMDs. To simplify your financial life, you may direct a service provider to calculate the RMD and oversee your distributions.

T. Rowe Price offers a convenient, free program of annual RMD calculations and distributions for many types of retirement accounts. The program would, of course, apply to assets you roll over into a T. Rowe Price IRA. To learn more about this free program or to sign up immediately over the phone, talk with a T. Rowe Price Retirement Specialist, available on weekdays between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. ET at
1-888-421-0563.

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Copyright 2009, T. Rowe Price Investment Services, Inc., Distributor. All rights reserved.