<prompt> Human: My wifes mother passed away last year and left her with a 401k account with about 300k in it. The company managing the account has provided us with the option of A taking out all the money now which would not be subject to the 10 penalty since the money was inherited but would be subject to regular Federal and State taxes, or B doing the required minimum disbursements every year over the projected lifespan of my wifes life, which for this year would equal about 3k and would likely continue to be about 3k a year for several decades.For some background, my wife and I are just over 30 years old, live in California and make a combined income of 250k but income will likely go up substantially over the next 5 years if all goes OK.So what Im trying to figure out is if were better off taking all the money out of the 401k now because even though it will be taxed, at least the balance will from that point forward be going up as we would not be required to take out the RMDs every year of 3k. Im worried that in 30 years or so that the RMDs will have brought this very large account of 300k down to very little and then right was we are about to retire, there wont be a lot of money in this account. We dont need an extra 3k a year over the next 30 years as we make good money now. So the idea is we take out the 300k, get taxed, and put whatevers left after taxes lets say half 150k and then let that grow without taking money out of it over the next 30 years.Or if we should just leave the money where it is and take the RMDs. As the account value goes up or down with the market and with the disbursements, they will re-calculate the RMD based on whats in the account and the projected life expectancy. So conceivably, there could continue to be lots of money in the account decades from now and wed get getting larger checks since the life expectancy would be lower. The advantage of waiting to take the money out would also be that our income should be lower when we retire, so the taxes would be lower too.EDIT: Thank you to everyone for all the input. I agree with you and will take the RMDs rather than withdraw all of the money. Per lefsegirl advice, which Ive been reading up about as well, I will transfer the money out of the 401k to an inherited IRA so that we have more control over how its invested. Currently the money is in an account that is being invested for someone who was 64 years old so it will make sense to invest it with our ages in mind. Does anyone have recommendations on which company to transfer this money to e.g. Vanguard, Fidelity, etc. and which fund not sure if thats the right word, or type of fund, to select? My understanding is that this subreddit has a lot of love for Vanguard. Thanks again!  <response>: RMD. Fund backdoor roth with the money if youre not maxing out already. 