Dear John: I have been given different answers to this question by a number of experts:

When do I have to start taking my mandatory withdrawals from my Individual Retire ment Account?

I was born in 1939 and will turn 70 in July – and 70 1/2 next January.

WLG

Dear WLG: Barry Picker, a certified public accountant in New York, says “the key date is the year that one attains age 70 1/2.” As you said, that’ll be next year – 2010.

“So your first distribution year is 2010 and you will compute this distribution based upon the Dec. 31, 2009 value,” says Picker.

For the first year only, you have until April 1 of the following year – 2011 – to take the first year distribution.

“Your second distribution has to be taken by Dec. 31, 2011,” says Picker.

Hope that helps.

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