---
title: "Serious Investing for Your 70s (Ages 70-79)"
description: "Advanced investing guides for Your 70s (Ages 70-79). Investment policy statements, concentration management, tax optimization."
canonical: https://www.getswoopr.com/investing-by-age/serious/70s/
source: "Swoopr Investment: https://www.getswoopr.com"
---

## Direct Answer



Advanced investing guides for Your 70s (Ages 70-79). These pages cover investment policy statements, concentration management, tax location, and scenario testing for serious investors at this life stage.





    


# Serious Investing for Your 70s (Ages 70-79)






- [Investment policy statement](https://www.getswoopr.com/investing-by-age/serious/70s/policy-statement/): In the 70s the policy statement names rules that run on a calendar. **Common mistake:** Writing the statement around investment returns while leaving the RMD amount and deadline out, so the first distribution slips to April and two taxable distributions land in one tax year.
- [Research sleeve](https://www.getswoopr.com/investing-by-age/serious/70s/research-sleeve/): In the 70s, required minimum distributions make the sleeve visible in a new way. **Common mistake:** Taking the RMD as an afterthought from whichever holding is convenient, which can force a sale of a sleeve position at a poor time or miss the deadline and its 25% penalty.
- [Concentration management](https://www.getswoopr.com/investing-by-age/serious/70s/concentration/): At 70 to 79, required minimum distributions force sales, so a single large holding inside an IRA must be sold or distributed in kind to meet them. **Common mistake:** Holding a low-basis stock solely for the step-up in basis at death while the household depends on that one position for current spending and care costs.
- [Tax location](https://www.getswoopr.com/investing-by-age/serious/70s/tax-location/): Required minimum distributions start at 73 for those born 1951 to 1959, and the first can be delayed to April 1 of the following year, though that stacks two distributions into one tax year. **Common mistake:** Selling low-basis taxable holdings to fund spending while leaving a large traditional IRA untouched, ignoring that the taxable assets would receive a basis step-up and the IRA would be taxed to heirs.
- [Rebalancing](https://www.getswoopr.com/investing-by-age/serious/70s/rebalancing/): In the 70s the required minimum distribution is a built-in rebalancing trade. **Common mistake:** Rebalancing within an IRA and reinvesting every dollar raised without first setting aside the required minimum distribution, which risks a missed RMD and the 25% penalty.
- [Scenario testing](https://www.getswoopr.com/investing-by-age/serious/70s/scenario-testing/): In the 70s, required minimum distributions turn part of every scenario into a fixed schedule: at 75 the Uniform Lifetime Table divisor is 24.6, so about 4% of a traditional balance must come out whatever markets do. **Common mistake:** Running the test on the starting balance without the required distribution, so the withdrawal rate after a decline looks lower than the one the tax rules actually require.
- [Security research](https://www.getswoopr.com/investing-by-age/serious/70s/security-research/): By the 70s required minimum distributions are running, starting at 73 for those born 1951 to 1959, so research must ask whether a holding can be sold or distributed in kind without difficulty when the withdrawal falls due. **Common mistake:** Holding thinly traded or hard-to-value securities inside an IRA, then finding that a required annual distribution must be met by selling something else at an unfavorable moment.
- [Exit rules](https://www.getswoopr.com/investing-by-age/serious/70s/exit-rules/): In the 70s, exit rules are partly set by law. **Common mistake:** Delaying the first RMD to April 1 and then taking the second in the same calendar year, which stacks two taxable distributions into one tax year.



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