Remember how Ebenezer Scrooge learned that money isn’t everything in Charles Dickens’ classic story, A Christmas Carol?
The same is true for estate planning. Creating and reviewing your estate plan is a selfless way to protect and provide for your loved ones after you die; it’s not just about protecting your money.
However, when creating or reviewing your estate plan, a review of beneficiary designations for retirement plans and life insurance is often not given the attention that it deserves. People often assume that their will or trust dictates how their retirement accounts and life insurance proceeds are to be distributed upon their death.
This is not the case! One must have an up-to-date beneficiary designation in order to do this. This is a relatively easy task that some people inadvertently forget.