Update Your Beneficiary Designations to Control Where Your Money Goes

One of the biggest mistakes people make with their retirement plans can be fixed easily: They forget to update their beneficiary designations when they get married, divorced, have children or grandchildren, or if one of their beneficiaries dies. If you don’t make changes when you experience major life events, the wrong people could inherit the savings you’ve worked for years to build.

People generally remember to update their wills with new beneficiaries, but their retirement plans often fall through the cracks. Your retirement-plan beneficiary designation takes precedence over your will, so an outdated beneficiary would inherit your retirement-plan money no matter what your will says.

You can update your beneficiary designations at any time, and ICMA-RC makes the process easy. You generally must submit the request on paper, rather than over the phone or the Internet. You can download an employee information change form from the Publications & Forms section, or request a copy by calling ICMA-RC Investor Services at 800-669-7400. You’ll need to fill out a separate form for each retirement plan you have with ICMA-RC and provide the beneficiaries’ Social Security numbers.

Let your beneficiaries know of your decision, and give them the information for their records.