My Summary:
You can cash out of the S&P Spyder fund and just leave it in that IRA Account, or roll to another trustee. Then no tax. But if you take possession of the money without a quick roll to a new account, you get taxed. So, thinking there will be a Biden crash, you park the money in a money market fund, or a different investment type.
As to Biden Taxes: If he gets in even after all the fraud, then tax rates will go up. Long term you are stuck. But for a year or two you can accelerate future income into 2020 for future spending. We are going to do that. I had not planned on this and I wanted not to take all of the Mandatory Withdrawal, but doing so under Trump rates is likely better. Keep in mind...the new rates will backdate to Jan 1, 2021. But you have to pay attention to the IRS marginal rate levels. The ideal is to get money twice at the lower bracket in 2 years, rather than one big distribution now in 2020, pushing you way up the brackets.
I am a retired Wall Street consultant, investment inventor, and finance prof. Owning an ETF has been shown to be an excellent stock strategy. I have a mix of both. I multipied my money 30 x in ITW, and likely the same amount staying in the Fidelity S&P 500 fund for three decades.
We have two RMD's we have to take every year. If you really don't want to pay taxes....buy a farm...my wife calls it a farm, I call it a ranch. We didn't buy it, we inherited it. There is no better way to "lose money" so to speak, than to own a ranch. Raise cows, hunt and fish, trade stocks over the internet. It's called retirement. :) Nothing better for your health than riding on a tractor all day and listening to talk radio or music on your blue tooth headset in a county that voted 84% for Trump. It has a calming effect.
If he gets in even after all the fraud, then tax rates will go up
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Tax rate changes in the past have led to heavy December selling. Businesses will also be impacted by the higher rates so valuations might drop.
I’ve sold off some of my more aggressive tech holdings with LT gains.