<prompt> Human: I have 2 legacy and 1 current employer 401k plans, I dont anticipate needing any funds from my 401k plans, ever. I am almost 10 years older than my spouse, I will have a pension, full age 70 Social Security check, passive income and spouses Social Security check and dont see any need for money from my 401k to live the kind of retired life we want. No personal debt at age 70 so pretty minimal required expenses. My current employer is friendly and fine with me going into permanent mostly but not totally retired mode whenever I want and for as long as I want.I believe the majority of my taxable retirement income will be in the 12 tax bracket and want a strategy to pretty much keep it that way. Passive income includes some tax deferred cash flow from rental properties which will never be taxed when my heirs inherit the properties. I have Roth IRA funds I can also draw from without taxes.Question, is it advantageous from a tax perspective to not draw funds at all from a 401k or is that going to send taxes on withdrawals when my spouse inherits into the stratosphere due to a short mandatory withdrawal period or can I generation skip and make one or more of my children my beneficiary to allow them to spread the withdrawals over a much longer period. My spouse is fine with the money skipping her, she has her own retirement funds, Social Security and will inherit the passive income and our family dynamic isnt going to result her living in poverty while her children are vacationing in Rio on my retirement funds, ie our kids actually like us, are responsible and we are as well.Or is naming one or more trusts an easier approach, I can have those set up ahead of time and that will let the RMDs be different for each person named by each trust?I am fine seeing an estate planning attorney, just looking for some general advice or suggestions so I have a better idea of what I can do and what might be most beneficial to keep these growing as long as possible tax free.Assistant: Question, is it advantageous from a tax perspective to not draw funds at all from a 401k You wont be able to. If you stay with your current employer and are not a 5-or-more owner, you can avoid RMD from that employers 401k for however long you keep working there.But for your other 2 401ks, you cannot avoid RMD once you hit 70.5. Perhaps you can start rolling over small parts into a Roth now, to reduce RMD in the future, but youre still paying the taxes, which is what avoiding RMD is usually about, so that could also be self defeating. inherits into the stratosphere due to a short mandatory withdrawal period An inheritance by itself should not send taxes into the stratosphere. It is income or capital gains that are taxed, not net worth. or can I generation skip and make one or more of my children my beneficiary to allow them to spread the withdrawals over a much longer periodNo. Or is naming one or more trusts an easier approach, I can have those set up ahead of time and that will let the RMDs be different for each person named by each trust?You can name a trust as an inheritor, but that doesnt change a thing about your RMDs.Human: But for your other 2 401ks, you cannot avoid RMD once you hit 70.5. Perhaps you can start rolling over small parts into a Roth now, to reduce RMD in the future, but youre still paying the taxes, which is what avoiding RMD is usually about, so that could also be self defeatingSeems like rolling them into my current 401k plan lets me avoid RMDs from them as wellAn inheritance by itself should not send taxes into the stratosphere. It is income or capital gains that are taxed, not net worth.Due to the short period for RMDs for my spouse when she inherits, it would result in a substantial annual income that would cause taxes to go sky highNo??? I cant name a child who is much younger than my spouse and get a much longer RMD period? That doesnt seem correct. You can name a trust as an inheritor, but that doesnt change a thing about your RMDs.Again I am puzzled, when someone inherits a 401k as a beneficiary arent they permitted RMDs over their life expectancy?  <response>: Seems like rolling them into my current 401k plan lets me avoid RMDs from them as wellMy apologies. I had assumed that if your current employers 401k allowed incoming rollovers, you wouldve already done that. ??? I cant name a child who is much younger than my spouse and get a much longer RMD period? That doesnt seem correct. Again I am puzzled, when someone inherits a 401k as a beneficiary arent they permitted RMDs over their life expectancy?You can name whomever you want to inherit your 401ks as long as your spouse signs the waivers. But naming a child, a trust, etc has no effect on your RMDs.No difference in the inheritors RMD between direct and trust; trust just allows you more control. A trust amongst multiple people will use the largest RMD, so if youd still go trusts with multiple beneficiaries you would want multiple trusts. 