It’s Time to Update Your Beneficiaries!

When was the last time you reviewed your beneficiaries? 

After arranging your accounts and property with an attorney or setting up retirement accounts, it’s easy to assume that you check those off your list forever. Unfortunately, it’s not as simple. Not only do tax laws frequently change, but so does your life. 

An essential piece of your estate plan, life insurance, and retirement account is designating a beneficiary. Though beneficiaries typically don’t change unless a significant life event occurs, such as a new marriage, divorce, the birth of a child, or the death of a spouse, even small life changes can impact your plans. Additionally, tax laws and regulation changes could impact your beneficiaries. 

Now is an excellent time to review your beneficiary designations across all your accounts. Here are accounts that require regular beneficiary review: 

Retirement Accounts - The beneficiaries on accounts such as a 401(k) aren’t determined by your estate plan and are not automatically updated. If you miss this step, you could find yourself in a conflicted situation. 

Investment Accounts – Similar to 401(k)s, investment accounts are not automatically updated through an estate plan and require regular review and necessary adjustments. 

Insurance policies – Regular review of insurance policies is suggested, especially policies you may have forgotten about, so you can ensure all documents have current information. These also include any insurance policies provided through employee benefits. 

Before making any changes, we recommend contacting your tax adviser and estate planning attorney. 

This has been a challenging couple of years for many of our clients; we want to provide an opportunity to discuss any changes in your personal and financial situation and make sure all policies and plans include up-to-date beneficiaries. If you’d like to review the beneficiaries we have on file, we’d be happy to set a time to discuss this in more detail. Please reach out!