When Was The Last Time You Reviewed Your Beneficiary Designations?

When Was The Last Time You Reviewed Your Beneficiary Designations?
April 10, 2014 jersey Asset Distribution 0 Comments

Maybe it’s the IRA you have meticulously made contributions to for the last twenty years. Or the retirement plan you established with your employer the very day you began work at the company. Or that insurance policy you bought many years ago.

You created them not only to protect your financial future, but also the financial well being of the people you love—that is, the beneficiaries you named in your planning documents. But what if your personal situation has changed over time? Maybe you have gotten divorced, or your wife has passed away, and you have remarried? Perhaps your son or daughter has gotten married, and you’re not exactly overjoyed with his or her choice of spouse?

Change is a fact of life. The question is, do the beneficiary designations in your planning documents reflect the changes in your life and the lives of your loved ones? If they don’t, the consequences can be devastating to the very people who are most important to you at this stage of your life.

We understand that it is easy to put off reviewing your designations. It’s not the kind of thing you wake up one Saturday morning and say to yourself “By golly, I think this is the perfect day to tackle those beneficiary designations.” But as your estate planning counselors, we consider it our duty to make sure that your designations, and your estate plan as a whole, are up-to-date and capable of achieving your goals.

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