Keeping Beneficiary Designations Up To Date
Keeping Beneficiary Designations Up To Date: Nicole Gopoian Wirick, JD, CFP® of Prosperity Wealth Strategies discusses the importance of naming and regularly reviewing beneficiary designations. Beneficiary designations control where assets like retirement accounts, life insurance policies, and bank accounts transfer upon death, overriding wills and trusts.
Key Takeaways
- Without named beneficiary designations, the state, federal government, courts, or insurance companies will decide asset distribution—potentially against your wishes
- Name both primary and contingent beneficiaries for each asset to ensure assets pass smoothly if your primary beneficiary predeceases you
- Match beneficiary types to asset tax profiles: leave Roth IRAs to individuals and traditional IRAs or 401(k)s to qualified charities (501c3 organizations) to minimize taxes
- Create a complete asset inventory categorizing which assets pass by beneficiary designation versus through probate or other methods
- Failing to name beneficiaries can trigger unnecessary probate costs and force suboptimal taxable distributions that create large tax burdens for your heirs
Keeping Beneficiary Designations Up To Date: Nicole Gopoian Wirick, JD, CFP® of Prosperity Wealth Strategies, discusses the importance of naming and regularly reviewing beneficiary designations. Beneficiary designations control where assets like retirement accounts, life insurance policies, and bank accounts transfer upon death, overriding wills, and trusts.
Key points:
- Not naming beneficiaries means assets may go through probate court or to unintended recipients. This can be time-consuming, expensive, and lead to unfavorable tax consequences.
- A 3-step process is recommended: inventory assets with beneficiary designations, review current designations and optimize based on tax implications and overall estate plan goals.
- Life events like marriage, divorce, births, and deaths should trigger reviews of beneficiary choices to ensure assets transfer as intended.
- Consider both primary and contingent beneficiaries in case the primary predeceases you.
Gopoian Wirick stresses keeping beneficiary designations updated, as they play a major role in estate plans but tend to get overlooked. Reviewing them annually and after major life events can prevent assets from going to outdated or unintended recipients.
Watch this video to learn more about keeping beneficiary designations up to date. To see more free videos on FinStream TV featuring Nicole Gopian Wirick, please click on this link: https://www.finstream.tv/featured/nicole-gopoian-wirick/
{ "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "VideoObject", "name": "Keeping Beneficiary Designations Up To Date - Finstream.TV", "description": "Keeping Beneficiary Designations Up To Date: Nicole Gopoian Wirick discusses the importance of naming and regularly reviewing beneficiaries.", "thumbnailUrl": [ "https://www.finstream.tv/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/keeping_beneficiary_designations_up_to_date1920.jpg" ], "uploadDate": "2024-03-25T17:10:05+00:00", "contentUrl": "https://finstreamtv-videos.s3.amazonaws.com/keeping_beneficiary_designations_up_to_date%20(1080p).mp4", "embedUrl": "", "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Finstream.TV", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://www.finstream.tv/wp-content/uploads/logos/FinStream-800w-red.png", "width": "1920", "height": "1080" } }, "duration": "PT03M26S" }