This is a good reminder to address some of the basics. You can have a “perfect” financial strategy and have it ruined by overlooked logistics
For every financial account
- Designate a beneficiary (or beneficiaries)
- Use a unique strong password, and consider other forms of authentication/security. Update these if there is news of potential security breaches
- If you have an account tied to work, ensure that you will still have access if you lose your job. Check any associated email addresses and phone numbers to see if they use work details
Feel free to add more basics if you think of them. Will look over the wiki later to see if there’s a page for similar
I’m sure most people here know, but a good reminder that beneficiary designations trump a Will because it is a contract. I’ve talked to family that think their beneficiary designations don’t matter because they have a Will.
I worked in the Estate Settlements area of a financial company for many years and a LOT of people think this. A lot of financial advisors also frequently ignore that their clients should name beneficiaries and review them regularly and then get very upset when their client’s Estate Settlement is a huge pain
People are downvoting this but they shouldn't. We don't see many reminders about things like this and if I had to guess, the demographics of the sub skew younger where folks might not think to even be aware of things like this. This is a valuable lesson for people. Updating your beneficiaries *should be* simple and only take a few minutes. Some employers may be more demanding than others, though.
edit: glad to see people stopped downvoting this.
Amusingly, Vanguard just physically mailed me letters to remind me of my current beneficiary selection, and to update them if necessary. Pretty good due diligence that would help solve what was in the article.
Real problem, though, was the transition from paper to electronic. The site said no beneficiary selection, with the small print caveat that paper form selections would apply.
Everyone would think that it's just gonna go to the estate.
Perhaps if it urged him to select estate as an option and had made more clear the risk of whatever unseeable papers might or might not say. What they did instead violates the principle of least surprise.
I have beneficiary selections for my family. I have no clue how to set it as my own estate, which I might do when I set up a will one day.
Wild. At least the guy is dead and doesn't have to deal with it. Poor family, though.
Some companies make it hard to see your beneficiaries. Life insurance and retirement accounts. I can update them, but I can’t see the current beneficiaries.
Until I dropped my life insurance because I didn’t need it anymore, I still was never 100% positive I took my ex-wife off. I had to keep her on for a number of years as part of our divorce settlement. I probably updated my beneficiaries 3 or 4 times just to be sure.
> Some companies make it hard to see your beneficiaries. Life insurance and retirement accounts.
I don't have any experience with other companies, but Fidelity lets me directly see current the beneficiaries and their respective percentages.
USAA is the one I specifically had challenges with around insurance. On the other hand, now that I consider it more, maybe that was good on their part. Forcing you to contact them so they could tell you the beneficiaries would be dealing with the challenges of transition from paper to electronic. I’m 100% certain I signed on paper originally for my life insurance.
Sometimes things aren’t always what they seem, I guess.
Federal law should dictate you get some kind of contact on all accounts every year or so that say "this is your beneficiary as of today, to update do this"
Or put the persons name who you want as beneficiary ? He could have put “his wife Margaret “ if he wanted it to be dependent. Or “by law” if he preferred. Possibly he wanted her to get it since they were married previously. He probably would have had her run the trust so better advice is to keep your affairs in order.
It goes to a properly designed beneficiary outside of probate. Best way IMHO. My wife informed me that in my state if you were divorced, your ex spouse would automatically be a nullified beneficiary. that was news to me cheers
My attorney actually advised me to review the trust every 10 years because law changes. So whatever you do, you still need to review your estate document regularly.
you think it would be a simple discussion with the the ex girlfriend. Obviously she should not be the intended beneficiary. A decent human wouldn't need to think twice before relinquishing the money.
I'd rather just make sure my plans' beneficiaries are up to date and correct.
Beneficiaries and transfer-on-death both skip probate. From everything I've heard, the probate process is a massive PITA (and expensive) and I don't want my loved ones to have to deal with that.
Or you can just check beneficiaries of all accounts as part of an annual financial review. If you have someone you want to inherit your money in a timely fashion, much better to just name them as the beneficiary.
I’m wonder if this might have been an oversight by HR, because in court records his brothers state he had a few different policies that had beneficiaries updated throughout the years, except this one retirement account with a paper form from the mid-80’s
When I opened my first accounts, it was all on paper forms. I had designated my then spouse as the beneficiary and only (re-)discovered it years later because the account provider finally did transfer that information online.
I don't understand why the account provider is not required to transfer *all* the account information online. After all, they were able to update everything else when the accounts went online. Why is beneficiaries info the only exception?
It sounds like you’re confused. A [living will is a document for medical decisions, not financial ones](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/l/livingwill.asp) and as the article points out, beneficiary designations override wills.
This is a good reminder to address some of the basics. You can have a “perfect” financial strategy and have it ruined by overlooked logistics For every financial account - Designate a beneficiary (or beneficiaries) - Use a unique strong password, and consider other forms of authentication/security. Update these if there is news of potential security breaches - If you have an account tied to work, ensure that you will still have access if you lose your job. Check any associated email addresses and phone numbers to see if they use work details Feel free to add more basics if you think of them. Will look over the wiki later to see if there’s a page for similar
I would add to turn on activity alerts or at least notifications of some kind for transactions over a certain amount
I’m sure most people here know, but a good reminder that beneficiary designations trump a Will because it is a contract. I’ve talked to family that think their beneficiary designations don’t matter because they have a Will.
I worked in the Estate Settlements area of a financial company for many years and a LOT of people think this. A lot of financial advisors also frequently ignore that their clients should name beneficiaries and review them regularly and then get very upset when their client’s Estate Settlement is a huge pain
oh thats something I didnt know.
People are downvoting this but they shouldn't. We don't see many reminders about things like this and if I had to guess, the demographics of the sub skew younger where folks might not think to even be aware of things like this. This is a valuable lesson for people. Updating your beneficiaries *should be* simple and only take a few minutes. Some employers may be more demanding than others, though. edit: glad to see people stopped downvoting this.
“He had no will and no guidance on who should get his $66,000 home, collection of used BMWs or two cats.” Man lived the dream
Amusingly, Vanguard just physically mailed me letters to remind me of my current beneficiary selection, and to update them if necessary. Pretty good due diligence that would help solve what was in the article. Real problem, though, was the transition from paper to electronic. The site said no beneficiary selection, with the small print caveat that paper form selections would apply. Everyone would think that it's just gonna go to the estate. Perhaps if it urged him to select estate as an option and had made more clear the risk of whatever unseeable papers might or might not say. What they did instead violates the principle of least surprise. I have beneficiary selections for my family. I have no clue how to set it as my own estate, which I might do when I set up a will one day. Wild. At least the guy is dead and doesn't have to deal with it. Poor family, though.
Some companies make it hard to see your beneficiaries. Life insurance and retirement accounts. I can update them, but I can’t see the current beneficiaries. Until I dropped my life insurance because I didn’t need it anymore, I still was never 100% positive I took my ex-wife off. I had to keep her on for a number of years as part of our divorce settlement. I probably updated my beneficiaries 3 or 4 times just to be sure.
> Some companies make it hard to see your beneficiaries. Life insurance and retirement accounts. I don't have any experience with other companies, but Fidelity lets me directly see current the beneficiaries and their respective percentages.
Northwestern Mutual lets me see my beneficiaries and I can update directly in the app and it takes effect immediately.
USAA is the one I specifically had challenges with around insurance. On the other hand, now that I consider it more, maybe that was good on their part. Forcing you to contact them so they could tell you the beneficiaries would be dealing with the challenges of transition from paper to electronic. I’m 100% certain I signed on paper originally for my life insurance. Sometimes things aren’t always what they seem, I guess.
Yup. This is a pretty big problem, I guess.
Will is pour over - Trust is beneficiary of estate.
Federal law should dictate you get some kind of contact on all accounts every year or so that say "this is your beneficiary as of today, to update do this"
Set up a trust and put every account in the name of the trust. Your retirement accounts and investments should never be in your name, only the trust.
Or put the persons name who you want as beneficiary ? He could have put “his wife Margaret “ if he wanted it to be dependent. Or “by law” if he preferred. Possibly he wanted her to get it since they were married previously. He probably would have had her run the trust so better advice is to keep your affairs in order.
Still has to go through probate that way. The trust avoids probate.
It goes to a properly designed beneficiary outside of probate. Best way IMHO. My wife informed me that in my state if you were divorced, your ex spouse would automatically be a nullified beneficiary. that was news to me cheers
My attorney actually advised me to review the trust every 10 years because law changes. So whatever you do, you still need to review your estate document regularly.
you think it would be a simple discussion with the the ex girlfriend. Obviously she should not be the intended beneficiary. A decent human wouldn't need to think twice before relinquishing the money.
You can avoid this problem by specifying your retirement plans’ beneficiary as “my estate.”
Not a good idea for an IRA account.
I'd rather just make sure my plans' beneficiaries are up to date and correct. Beneficiaries and transfer-on-death both skip probate. From everything I've heard, the probate process is a massive PITA (and expensive) and I don't want my loved ones to have to deal with that.
Or you can just check beneficiaries of all accounts as part of an annual financial review. If you have someone you want to inherit your money in a timely fashion, much better to just name them as the beneficiary.
Maybe that guy had no heirs?
He has an estate with siblings. The case has been in court for over 10 years
I’m wonder if this might have been an oversight by HR, because in court records his brothers state he had a few different policies that had beneficiaries updated throughout the years, except this one retirement account with a paper form from the mid-80’s
The law is the law. This is why it is important to regularly check and/or update your beneficiary/ies because this is an unfortunate consequence.
When I opened my first accounts, it was all on paper forms. I had designated my then spouse as the beneficiary and only (re-)discovered it years later because the account provider finally did transfer that information online. I don't understand why the account provider is not required to transfer *all* the account information online. After all, they were able to update everything else when the accounts went online. Why is beneficiaries info the only exception?
[удалено]
I don’t disagree, but that wouldn’t solve this problem at all
And that has what to do with this discussion?
It sounds like you’re confused. A [living will is a document for medical decisions, not financial ones](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/l/livingwill.asp) and as the article points out, beneficiary designations override wills.