As retirement approaches, a primary concern is most likely whether you have accumulated sufficient assets to provide for the life you envisioned after the end of your active career. For those who are fortunate enough to have a well-funded retirement, a secondary thought is what happens if my assets outlive me.

IRAs and other tax-deferred retirement accounts were designed to provide a means to allow individuals to increase their savings so that they can better support themselves when they are no longer working. By allowing tax-deferred growth over a period of many years and with some accounts permitting individuals to use untaxed assets to fund them, retirement accounts can grow at a more rapid pace than ordinary investments. At some point, however, the taxman cometh.