Your Estate Plan, Your Trusts, and Your Retirement Accounts
You should read this excellent short column by financial writer Arden Dale of The Wall Street Journal, “Minding Retirement Accounts in Estate Plans,” on integrating IRAs, 401(k) plans, federal employee Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) accounts, and similar retirement savings accounts into estate and trust plans. The article deals primarily with choosing primary beneficiaries in a […]
How Old is Your Durable Power of Attorney?
When you created and signed your General Durable Power of Attorney, you did it to make sure that a person chosen by you could take care of financial and personal matters for you if you were to become incapacitated. However, as this 2016 New York Times article explains, when an Agent takes a power of […]
Sure Enough, Congress Took Away Your Kids’ Stretch IRAs
On December 20, 2019, President Trump signed into law the “Secure Act,” which eliminated the benefits of “Stretch IRAs” for non-spouse beneficiaries of IRAs, 401Ks, Thrift Savings Plans, and other qualified retirement plans. Today, rather than being able to stretch annual required minimum distributions (RMDs) over their projected lifespans, nonspouse beneficiaries of inherited IRAs will […]
Congress is Coming for Your IRA
Philip DeMuth writes in the Wall Street Journal (behind its paywall) that the “SECURE Act” now under consideration in Congress “would upend 20 years of retirement planning and stick it to the middle class.” It’s good reading, and explains how the proposed law’s authors believe that owner/beneficiaries of inherited IRAs (and 401Ks and Thrift Savings Plans) should […]