Financial housekeeping: Review your beneficiary designations

With so much going on in our busy lives, it can be difficult to take care of financial “housekeeping” chores, even though we realize their importance. An urgent task I encourage you to address promptly is to make sure your beneficiary designations are current for all your investments, insurance and financial-related accounts.  If you’re like most people, you probably want to leave behind your assets to the people you love most – your spouse, kids, family members or even charities. But if you haven’t reviewed your beneficiary designations in some time, your wishes may not be carried out this way.

Here’s why it’s so important to review your beneficiary designations:

• If your beneficiary information is not current, in the event of your untimely passing your assets could be distributed to an unintended heir. This may be true even if you have an up-to-date will, as beneficiary designations often trump all other legal documents.
• Having proper designations in place may extend tax-related benefits and reduce the tax burden for your beneficiaries.
• Taking a small amount of time to update and verify your designations will ensure that your wishes are met, and will prevent your beneficiaries from bearing added stress due to legal complications.

Today’s call to action

It’s really as simple as picking up the phone to get started. If you’re not 100% certain that your beneficiary designations are current, please call your advisor today and make sure you take care of this important matter.  Here are some examples of the accounts you want to check:

• Annuity
• Life Insurance
• IRA
• 401(k) / 403(b)
• Pension
• Other Retirement
• Non-Retirement
• 529 College Savings
• Mutual Fund
• Bank Statements

Brittney Castro

Brittney Castro, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™, entrepreneur and personal finance expert for women, is the Founder & CEO of Financially Wise Women, a Los Angeles based financial planning firm for women. She specializes in working with busy professional and entrepreneurial women who are passionate about life and want to gain clarity around their money. Brittney’s mission is to help women plan and create the life of their dreams, free from anxiety about money. She is known for her innovative, non-judgmental, compassionate approach to financial planning. She has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, CNBC, Financial Planning Magazine, Investment News, and Registered Rep Magazine. Away from the office, you can find Brittney working out, drinking green juice, reading, playing at the park with her dog Arya and of course dancing. Sign up to receive your Financially Wise Toolkit jam packed with great tools and resources to help you on your financial journey at FinanciallyWiseWomen.com. Follow @BrittneyCastro on Twitter.

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