contingent beneficiary

How Current is Your Beneficiary Form?

You opened your IRA account 20 years ago and named your spouse as the beneficiary of your IRA. Life has been good for the last 20 years, and you are still married to that same spouse and that same financial institution is still on the corner. But should you still have the same beneficiary form? A lot has changed in 20 years. You've updated your wardrobe and car. And you probably need to update your beneficiary form.

Successor Beneficiaries: The “Beneficiary’s Beneficiary”

It is vital that IRA owners name both primary and contingent beneficiaries. Failure to have a beneficiary in place at death could result in the loss of the extended payout, that is, the stretch IRA. Why? If the IRA owner’s beneficiary dies before the IRA owner and no contingent beneficiary was ever named, the IRA owner’s estate is usually the default beneficiary. The estate does not have a life expectancy to use for stretch distributions.

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