What a taxable index-fund account is actually worth after expense-ratio drag and after Michigan takes its share of the gain — which, in most states, is not at the federal preferential rate.
There is no state equivalent of the federal preferential rate here — a long-term gain is charged at Michigan's normal income brackets, exactly like wages. This is the common case, and it surprises people who assume the federal 15% carries over. No preferential rate. MCL 206.30(1) defines Michigan taxable income as federal AGI subject to a closed, enumerated list of adjustments, and no subdivision provides any capital-gains exclusion, preferential rate, or holding-period distinction; MCL 206.51 contains no capital-gains rate at all. Long-term and short-term gains are taxed identically at the flat 4.25%. Form MI-1040D exists only for narrow basis adjustments — the MCL 206.271 election for property acquired before 1972, and Michigan/federal basis differences — not for rate treatment. ONE NARROW EXCEPTION: MCL 206.30(1)(p) gives filers born before 1946 a combined dividend, interest and capital-gains subtraction, which was $14,688 single / $29,376 joint for 2025, reduced by military, railroad, and retirement subtractions. The 2026 amount is not yet published and is deliberately not estimated here.
What your state actually takes from a 401(k) withdrawal, a pension, and Social Security — in dollars, not a yes/no list.
2026 limits, employer match, the 60-63 super catch-up, and whether the Roth catch-up mandate applies to you.
When your RMDs start under SECURE 2.0, how much this year's is, and what missing it costs.
A required minimum distribution is ordinary income, taxed at your top bracket and often pushing you into the next one. Here is the federal tax on RMDs from $20,000 to $75,000 at different income levels, why the default 10% withholding usually leaves a bill, how to avoid an underpayment penalty, and the three side effects that make the real rate higher than the bracket.
The required minimum distribution on every common balance at every age from 73 to 95, worked from the IRS table, plus what happens to the account over twenty years of withdrawals at 0%, 5% and 7% returns. The short version: the share you must take rises every year, and at good returns the dollar amount keeps rising with it.
What moving actually saves, on your own income mix rather than a headline rate — and how to establish domicile so the state you left cannot follow you.
Which account to draw first, priced. The three cliffs a withdrawal can cross without warning, the conversion window almost nobody uses, and why the order is the last big decision you can still change.