What would you do with 100k in an inherited IRA?

[Kevin Greene]

Hello BP,

A little backstory:

I have decent amount of money sitting in an Inherited IRA. Not 100k but if I let it sit for a few years it might appreciate. The money is invested in mutual funds at the moment. Since it is a non-spousal inherited IRA, I have to take yearly minimum required distributions (MRDs) until the account is depleted. If I don't do that, the whole thing needs to be liquidated in five years.

I've pretty indecisive about what to do. First decision would be to keep it in the IRA or liquidate it. Keeping it in the IRA will defer taxes, but I would have to keep liquid cash reserves in order to make the MRDs. The rules for investing in RE inside of an IRA seem quite thorny and I'm not sure I want to deal with that complexity. Also I wouldn't be able to enjoy the income aside from the MRDs.

On the other hand, I could liquidate the account and start using that money to get started in real estate. There would be a big up front tax expense, but perhaps that could be offset somehow? 

Third option, I guess, would be to pretend this money doesn't exist for a while and try to make it on my own. I don't have much liquid cash at the moment but I make a good wage and have 0 debt.

Even after deciding to keep or liquidate the IRA, I am not quite sure how I'd invest the money. As we all know there are so many ways to invest in RE and I have not quite settled on one yet. I do think I'm experiencing analysis paralysis.

As you can see I am quite scatter-brained and there are a thousand ideas floating around in my head. Please let me know your thoughts. I am hoping some other opinions will help bring me some clarity.