Proposed SECURE Act Make Roth IRA Conversions More Valuable

Posted on by in 401(k), 403(b), Current Events, Economy, Inherited IRAs, IRAs, Lange’s Cascading Beneficiary Plan, Retire Secure!, Retirement Plan Options, Retirement Planning, Roth IRA, Roth IRA Conversions, Stretch IRA.

Proposed Regulations to SECURE Act Make Roth IRA Conversions Even More Valuable
by Lange Legal Group, LLC

Cartoon depiction of the SECURE Act featured on CPA/Attorney James Lange's website PayTaxesLater.com

Randy Bish

On February 23, 2022, the IRS nonchalantly released 275 pages of Proposed Regulations which shocked the retirement and estate planning professional community. Since the passage of the SECURE Act at the end of 2019, many planners have been reeling over the ten-year payout requirement for inherited retirement accounts created by the Act, subject to limited exceptions.

Families and their retirement and estate planners have been scrambling to minimize the greatly accelerated income tax burden caused by the ten-year payout rule and have been recommending in many cases (particularly with Roth IRAs) to wait until the end of the payout period to withdraw the funds from the inherited retirement account.

The most devastating announcement under the Proposed Regulations was for beneficiaries of retirement accounts who inherited from retirement account owners already receiving Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs)—those who reached their required beginning date for distributions prior to their death, i.e. the April 1st of the year after they reached age 72 or retirement, whichever is later. This group represents most retirement account owners, and these beneficiaries will likely be required to take annual distributions in the first nine years immediately following the year of the IRA owner’s death, and then be forced to take a lump-sum distribution for the balance of the retirement account in the final distribution year. These proposed distribution rules will apply to traditional retirement accounts but not to Roth retirement accounts because Roth retirement accounts never have a required beginning date for distributions.

If the Proposed Regulations are passed in their current form with respect to RMDs from IRA owners who reached their required beginning date before their death, our general recommendations to inherited retirement account owner beneficiaries are as follows:

    • Traditional Retirement Accounts: Consider your likely income tax bracket for the next ten years and then decide whether it is more advantageous to take roughly one-tenth the first year, one-ninth the second year, and so on or take advantage of the limited income tax deferral still available by taking the minimum amount out years 1-9 and take out the balance in year ten. This strategy will most likely make sense on more modest retirement accounts ($500,000 or less) and averaging the income or strategically withdrawing the IRA in some other manner will likely make sense for larger IRAs. Each case should be evaluated based on running the numbers, and our group is well-positioned to help you with that analysis.
    • Roth Retirement Accounts – The advice for Roth retirement accounts is more straightforward. We recommend that Roth IRA beneficiaries wait until year ten and then take out the balance in year ten.

The Proposed Regulations provide important guidance for when a minor child is no longer considered a minor (age 21) and when a beneficiary is considered disabled (defer to the Social Security definition for beneficiaries ages 18 or older and use a common-sense definition for determining disability before age 18 (if an individual has a medically determinable physical or mental impairment that results in marked and severe functional limitations and that can be expected to result in death or to be of long-continued and indefinite duration).

In addition, the Proposed Regulations provide important clarifications for planners regarding what language can and cannot be in a trust to qualify for stretch exceptions and/or the ten-year rule. Finally, the Proposed Regulations do waive the failure to take an RMD penalty (50%) if the missed distribution is taken by the due date of your tax return.

We will alert you to the approved Final Regulations which we anticipate being published later this year. However, we felt that it was crucial that you were aware of this pending additional change regarding inherited retirement accounts.

If you have inherited a retirement account after 2019, will inherit a retirement account in the future, or you’re looking for more information please register to attend Jim Lange’s upcoming webinars on Tuesday, May 3rd and Wednesday, May 4th at https://PayTaxesLater.com/Webinars

What Happens If You Don’t Have A Will?

Posted on by in Beneficiary Designations, Estate Planning, Lange’s Cascading Beneficiary Plan and tagged , , , , , , , , .

New Blog by Lead Estate Attorney Matt Schwartz of the Lange Financial Group

Other than getting a tooth pulled, most people would tell you that there are few things that are as unpleasant to them as talking about their future death and wills. Death is an emotional and difficult topic for many people because it forces them to assess their legacy and their life purpose. So what happens if you don’t have a will?

How Are My Assets Distributed at My Death?

To help clients get over their discomfort of discussing their mortality, I explain to clients what will happen if they do not have a Will. Certain assets such as retirement accounts, life insurance policies and joint accounts pass to the successor owner irrespective of whether you have a Will. All other assets that do not have a joint owner or a beneficiary designation would be distributed in accordance with Pennsylvania intestacy law if you pass away without a Will. Examples of such assets are individually owned real estate and individual financial accounts without beneficiary designations.

Who Controls the Distribution of my Assets? Advice from an Estate Attorney

If you are married, it is quite possible that all of your assets are either jointly owned with your spouse or will pass to your spouse by beneficiary designation. If so, it will not be necessary to use a Will to transfer any assets at the first spouse’s death because all of the assets will pass to the surviving spouse independent of any Will. However, if assets are individually owned without a beneficiary designation, then the distribution of those assets will not be permitted until an administrator is appointed for the estate. Although the initial choice for administrator would be the spouse, how will the children decide who should be administrator if your spouse predeceases you or does not have capacity to serve as administrator? Will a majority of the children agree on one of them to serve as administrator?

Who Receives My Assets if I Don’t Have a Will?

Finally, how are individually owned assets without a beneficiary designation distributed if you do not have a Will? Contrary to what most people think, the individually owned assets will be split at the first spouse’s death between the spouse and the children. The surviving spouse is already upset enough about losing their spouse. Finding out that they might not inherit all of the assets of their spouse (this result can be common with families that own real estate or closely held businesses) only adds insult to injury for these surviving spouses.

In future blog articles, we will focus on positive benefits of having a Will. Please do not hesitate to send me an email or give me a call at 412-521-2732 x211 if you would like to have a discussion to revisit your current Will or to develop an initial Will.

Contact Matt Schwartz, Attorney at the Lange Financial Group for Estate Planning needs including Wills.

The Essence of Lange’s Cascading Beneficiary Plan

Posted on by in Beneficiary Designations, Inherited IRAs, IRAs, Lange’s Cascading Beneficiary Plan, Roth IRA, Stretch IRA and tagged , , , .
The Essence of Lange's Cascading Beneficiary Plan

Learn how Lange’s Cascading Beneficiary Plan can help ease your worries for your family’s financial future.

Somewhat tongue-in-cheek, I refer to “Leave it to Beaver” families as the perfect candidates for the Lange Cascading Beneficiary Plan (LCPB). Just to be clear about what I mean by that, I am showing you a basic version of the family tree for that type of family. Blended families with children from different unions sometimes need to have estate planning with more complicated beneficiary designations. It is not that the LCBP cannot work, but it is not as straightforward. With that in mind, let’s look at the essence of Lange’s Cascading Beneficiary Plan.

Lange Cascading Beneficiary Plan example photo

It is important to think long-term with financial planning using the Lange Cascading Beneficiary Plan.

In previous content of the Lange Cascading Beneficiary Plan series, I have discussed the tax and long-term estate planning benefits of leaving your IRA and retirement accounts, when possible, to the youngest members of your extended family to get the longest stretch possible. Remember, keeping money in the tax-deferred environment (traditional IRAs and retirement plans) or the tax-free environment (Roth IRA etc.) for as long as possible works to your heirs’ advantage.

But, let’s be realistic. Even if you understand that the tax benefits are greater when you leave your IRA to your grandchildren, most couples want to ensure that their surviving spouse will be financially sound with enough discretionary money to lead a happy and fulfilling life. So, if we take that attitude, it might seem that the simplest and safest route is to simply leave all your money to your surviving spouse.

Or, you make some calculations and decide your surviving spouse will probably be fine with most of your IRA but some of it could go to the kids upon the first death. Maybe your plan works out perfectly, but maybe it doesn’t.  Let’s look at an example. You have a two-million-dollar IRA, and you think, based on future calculations that your spouse will only need about $1,500,000.

You could make your children the beneficiaries of $500,000 at your death. Conducting your estate planning in this manner could provide your children with some inheritance after the death of the first parent. It might be very useful to them, especially if they have children of their own that will be needing money for school or facing other monetary challenges associated with raising a family.

The financial market is in constant flux, keep that in mind when making plans.

That sounds like a great plan but what happens if the market takes a big dive? The two million you thought was going to be there has dropped to 1.5 million, and you have designated $500,000 of that to go to the children. Now, your surviving spouse has less money to live on, and you fail to meet your objective of providing for your spouse. That would be horrible. Divvying up an estate appropriately is one of the biggest hurdles of estate planning.

So, you go back to square one, and leave everything to your surviving spouse outright.  Down the road, your family will likely have to give up more in taxes. Furthermore, if changes in the tax code modify the advantages of the stretch IRA, you could potentially forfeit the tax advantages that might be offered to compensate a bit for the loss. There was talk, for instance, of allowing $450,000 of an Inherited IRA to be stretched over a lifetime, and this exemption allowance would be available to both spouses.

If your estate planning leaves everything to your spouse, you forfeit one $450,000 exemption. Whereas, if the first spouse to die leaves $450,000 to the kids (giving them the advantage of the stretch), then when the second spouse dies, the children can take advantage of the second exclusion and stretch another $450,000. That is a big difference.

This is why the Lange Cascading Beneficiary Plan is right for you.

What we come back to time and again, is that we don’t have a crystal ball that allows us to plan for the future with any confidence that we are making decisions that will be appropriate for the circumstances at that time. That is precisely why the LCBP is so effective. You can draft the documents in such a way that your surviving spouse (with the help of an advisor and perhaps the grown children) can make good decisions about allocating the estate that are both tax-savvy and in the best interest of the family.

Picking up on our previous example where the stock market took a dive and there is less money overall for the surviving spouse. Under the terms of the LCBP, he or she could say, “Hey, I’d love to help the kids out, but I need all the money.” End of story, surviving spouse just keeps everything and we get a good result.

The essence of the LCBP will put you at ease.

Alternatively the surviving spouse has more than enough money for long-term security and a comfortable lifestyle, so he or she decides that money should go to the kids. So, with the cascade in place, divided among the children equally, and with disclaimers available, the surviving parent can look at each child’s situation and help them in the way that makes the most sense. Perhaps one child has a bright financial future, and it would make more sense to pass money onto their children (the grandchildren). In that instance, the first child could disclaim their portion directly to their children via well-drafted trusts.

Second child would love to do the same, but actually, he or she could use the money.  So, he or she accepts the inheritance, and does not disclaim to his or her children. Flexibility works. And, a further advantage is that none of these decisions must be made quickly. The family has nine months after the first death to finalize all decisions. A little breathing room after a crisis can be very welcome.

With documents that offer flexibility, you don’t have to predict the future to provide for your family in a way that makes sense for the time. Lange’s Cascading Beneficiary Plan allows for terrific post-mortem planning that can make an enormous difference for the family.

Next week, we will examine estate planning with the potential $450,000 exclusion in more detail.

See you soon!

P.S. If you want to do a little advanced study on this topic before the next post and video, go to https://paytaxeslater.com/estate-planning/.

The Incredible Tax Advantage of Young Beneficiaries

Posted on by in Beneficiary Designations, Estate Planning, Lange’s Cascading Beneficiary Plan, QTIP Trusts, Stretch IRA and tagged , , , , , .

Let’s Talk About Your Kids:
The Advantage of Estate Planning with Young Beneficiaries

The Incredible Tax Advantage of Young Beneficiaries

Let’s talk about your beneficiaries, your kids and grand kids.

In the second video in this series, we learned that estate planning that leaves retirement assets directly to children and grandchildren offers extraordinary tax advantages to your family.  The basic premise being that a young beneficiary has a long life-expectancy, and sustaining money in the tax deferred environment for an extended period allows for the most growth. At least this is how things work under the current law.

I think we can agree that, in drafting estate planning documents, the primary concern for most couples is to provide for the surviving spouse. As we have discussed, transferring assets to a spouse is a fairly straightforward process and does have some tax advantages. Then, they hope that when they are both gone, there will be something left for their kids, and then for their grandchildren.  But, I am suggesting that, depending on family circumstances, it might be smart to leave money to kids or grandkids at the first death.

Let’s say that after you die, your spouse is in good health and has more money than he or she will ever need.  Under those circumstances, you have met our first criteria for an estate plan:  providing for the surviving spouse.  In this case, leaving at least a portion of your IRA to your children is perhaps a viable and tax-savvy option.  With their longer life expectancy, they will have lower required minimum distributions which means more of your money will continue to grow tax-deferred.  Flexible estate planning at its finest! It’s a winning scenario, especially if you look at the family as a whole with the idea of establishing a legacy.

If we take it one step further with your beneficiaries.

It’s even better, tax-wise, to name your grandchildren.  Imagine the advantages of minimizing tax-free distributions from an inherited Roth account over a long lifetime! If you scroll up to video two in the series, you can watch me run the numbers for just that scenario.  It’s a game-changing strategy.

We cannot over-stress, however, that naming minor children or grandchildren as beneficiaries will also require some additional estate planning to protect them from themselves—no Ferrari at 21 for you my grandson—and, potentially, creditors.  We recommend that all minors’ shares are held in well-drafted trusts.  Additionally, it is critical that the trust meets five specific conditions to qualify as a designated beneficiary of an IRA or a Roth IRA (you can find reference to the five conditions in my book, Retire Secure! on Page 307, and you can download a copy of the book at www.paytaxeslater.com/books. Under current law, a well-drafted trust will allow them to stretch an inherited IRA or Roth IRA over their lifetime. If the trust doesn’t meet all five of the conditions, then the trust will not qualify as a beneficiary and income taxes will be accelerated. Without attention to the details, it could go from an estate planning dream to a nightmare.

So, let’s pull it all together.

Even if you have specific bequests that you want to see honored—a gift to a charity or a cause or a family friend—I suspect that it is still safe to say that your primary beneficiaries will be your surviving spouse, your children, and your grandchildren.  That being the case, stay tuned to learn why Lange’s Cascading Beneficiary Plan is probably the best estate planning solution for you.

Until next time!

-Jim

 

P.S. If you want to do a little advanced study on this topic before the next post and video, go to https://paytaxeslater.com/estate-planning/.

Beyond “I Love You” Wills: Tax Advantaged Estate Planning With Lange’s Cascading Beneficiary Plan

Posted on by in Beneficiary Designations, Estate Planning, Lange’s Cascading Beneficiary Plan, Video Resources and tagged , , , , , .

Estate Planning Goals:
What Do Most Families Want?

What do most couples want from estate planning and their Wills?

Welcome back for the fourth video blog post in my series on Lange’s Cascading Beneficiary Plan: the best estate plan for married couples.

So, let’s talk a minute about estate planning goals in general and forget about taxes.  What do most couples want from estate planning?  They want to be sure that, no matter what, the surviving spouse will be safe and secure.  If they have kids and grandkids, they want to take care of them too.  This typically leads to what I call an I Love You will.  And truly, it’s a great place to start.  Most I Love You wills are simple and to the point:  Husband leaves everything to his wife.  Wife leaves everything to her husband.  Once they both die, the remainder goes to their children in equal shares.  And if, for some reason one or more of the children predecease the parents, that child’s share would go to his or her own children—hopefully in well-drafted trusts.  As I said, I am a huge fan of I Love You wills.  But, returning to the topic of taxes…we can optimize estate planning when we start thinking of the tax consequences for individual family members, and how that affects the family as a whole.

What’s great about the I Love You Wills

Okay, so what is great about the I Love You wills that name the spouse as the primary beneficiary and then the children equally?

  1. It provides for the surviving spouse. As such, it meets our primary objective.
  2. When you direct your assets to your spouse at death, there is no income tax on the transfer of your IRA or other retirement plans. With a tax-deferred plan, your spouse will continue taking required minimum distributions (RMD).  If a Roth IRA passes to the surviving spouse, there are no RMDs, and it can continue growing tax-free for the rest of his or her life.
  3. With the death of the second spouse, what’s left goes to the children.

That covers the basics.

What can be improved from with I Love You Wills?

Now, let’s look at what we might improve from the basic I Love You estate planning.  If you remember in the second video of this series, we looked at the nitty-gritty of what happens to your IRA after death.  Assuming the IRA distribution rules currently in place, you learned that a child’s required minimum distribution of an inherited IRA would be much lower than the required minimum distribution of the IRA for the spouse.  So, if financial circumstances permit, passing the IRA to a child defers taxes for a much longer period.  And, if we are looking the big tax-picture estate planning for the whole family, that is an advantageous tax strategy.  The tax advantage only improves if a grandchild is the beneficiary.  We can implement this tax-advantaged strategy if the disclaimers associated with Lange’s Cascading Beneficiary Plan are in place.

The critical component with this type of estate planning is flexibility.  Having options that can maximize the tax benefits to the family based on the financial/life circumstances at the time of the first death is both comforting and smart.   Lange’s Cascading Beneficiary Plan takes all the benefits of the I Love You will and adds flexibility and potentially enormous tax advantages.

In our next video blog, we will look at some of the best ways to plan in the face of uncertainty.

See you soon!

Jim

P.S. If you want to do a little advanced study on this topic before the next post and video, go to https://paytaxeslater.com/estate-planning/.

When Is Flexible Estate Planning with Lange’s Cascading Beneficiary Plan the Best Solution?

Posted on by in Estate Planning, Lange’s Cascading Beneficiary Plan, Retirement Planning, Video Resources and tagged , , , , .

Lange’s Cascading Beneficiary Plan:
When is Flexible Estate Planning the Best Solution?

Hi all!  As we edge closer to Halloween, I want to talk a bit more about something that TRULY TERRIFIES me: bad estate planning.  In our scary tale, the villain: Concrete Contract, is trying to trap your beneficiaries into decisions made today—decades prior to your death—based on information and circumstances that will likely be completely different when the time comes to put the estate plan into motion. The devil is in the details, and you don’t want the devil involved!

Luckily, our flexible friend, Lange’s Cascading Beneficiary Plan comes to the rescue! He provides the peace of mind that your beneficiaries will be able to make the best decisions with the facts at hand when the time comes.  Once again, flexible estate planning protects the innocent and saves the day!

Ok… Ok… I know that was a little silly.  But it is still true. Since the mid-1990s, Lange’s Cascading Beneficiary Plan has been saving beneficiaries from being trapped by decisions made decades in the past when an estate plan was drafted. In my opinion, there is no better option for your estate planning, particularly if your family is not a blended family—more traditional, so to speak.  In the accompanying video, I am going to explain my reasons for using this flexible estate plan and describe how it can provide optimal solutions under many circumstances.

As I have touched on before, the biggest problem in estate planning is that we don’t know what is going to happen in the future.  We don’t know when we are going to die.  We don’t know how much money we’re going to have.  We can’t anticipate the future needs of our surviving spouse.  We can’t know the needs of the children and grandchildren—or even whether there will be grandchildren.  We don’t know what the tax laws are going to be.  In point-of-fact, we don’t know what the tax laws are going to be next year much less a couple of decades from now!

A previous blog and video series addressed possible changes in the tax laws regarding retirement plans… and I said then, what I will say now.  The best thing that you can do to protect your family from those changes—not knowing what the future holds—is to make sure you have a flexible estate plan.  If we lose the ability to stretch an IRA, if inherited IRAs are taxed at an accelerated rate, if tax rates become more unfavorable for your family, then they will need flexibility to make financially sound decisions. Managing the tax impact on your legacy is critical.

What do you need to have Lange’s Cascading Beneficiary Plan work for your family?  Trust.  For this plan to work well, you absolutely must trust your spouse. This is really important, because after you die, your spouse will have the power to make a lot of critical decisions—hopefully in conjunction with other trusted family members and a trusted advisor, and armed with your wishes too.

Estate planning with cascading beneficiaries is not a new concept, but I put my twist on it making it work particularly well for IRA and retirement plan owners with traditional families. Then, I started calling it Lange’s Cascading Beneficiary Plan.  After decades of use, I’ve seen this plan serve my clients very well.

The video goes over the details of how this plan should be set up and how to name beneficiaries. I think it is really critical to get this right, and I want to make sure all my readers do get it right. Flexible estate planning has never been more critical as we stand in the shadow of the Death of the Stretch IRA. Good planning could save your family a lot of worry and a lot of money.

Stop back soon for more on Lange’s Cascading Beneficiary Plan.

Jim

P.S. If you want to do a little advanced study on this topic before the next post and video, go to https://paytaxeslater.com/estate-planning/.

Why Flexible Estate Planning Matters, Especially for IRA and Retirement Plan Owners

Posted on by in Estate Planning, IRAs, Lange’s Cascading Beneficiary Plan, Retirement Plan Options, Roth IRA and tagged , , , , , , .

Why Do We Need Flexible Estate Planning?

Welcome back, Friends! This is the second post in my new video series on Lange’s Cascading Beneficiary Plan—the best estate plan for traditionally married couples, or what I like to call “leave it to beaver couples,” in contrast to blended families where more variables come into play for estate planning.

Why do we need flexible estate planning? Why is it so valuable for IRA and retirement plan owners?  Well, to get there we must think about the unique tax features of IRAs and what happens to an IRA when you die…

Most contributions to IRAs and retirement plans are tax deferred. We will ignore Roths for now. Their status as tax-deferred investments is valuable to you and to your heirs. Under the current law, you can take advantage of a great estate planning tool referred to as “the stretch IRA.” Stretching the IRA means keeping as much money as possible in the tax-deferred environment for as long as possible. We want to    allow as much of the principal in an inherited IRA to grow tax-deferred for as long as possible—currently a child or even a grandchild can stretch distributions from an inherited IRA over his or her lifetime. But, we are looking at a possible change in the laws regulating retirement plans that could really ruin that opportunity.  Having flexibility in your estate planning allows you to roll with the changes, and make good decisions under the new rules. But let’s take a little closer look at how the stretch works.

Bob Smith is a married 69-year-old retiree with a million dollars in his IRA.  On April 1 of the year after he turns 70 ½, Bob must begin taking annual required minimum distributions (RMDs) from his retirement plan.  You see, the government has been letting Bob defer income taxes on his IRA contributions for many years.  But eventually, they want their share! RMDs are calculated using numbers found in IRS Publication 590. Publication 590 gives us a divisor that is based on the joint life expectancy of Bob and someone who is 10 years younger than Bob.  We see that at age 69, Publication 590 says that Bob’s divisor is 27.4 (very nearly 4%).  So, when you do the math, this first year Bob must take out close to $38,000.  So, for the rest of his life Publication 590 is used to determine how much of a distribution Bob is required to take annually.

Now, when Bob dies, the ownership of that IRA is transferred to his wife, Jane Smith. Conveniently in this example, she is the same age as Bob so she begins taking her required minimum distributions exactly as Bob did.  As time goes on, her life expectancy decreases, and the distributions get larger. When Jane dies, however, what’s left in the IRA will go to their children as an Inherited IRA. This is when things can get interesting.

Let’s assume for discussions sake that their child, Sally, is now in her sixties.  Sally will be required to take minimum distributions as well. The difference is that her distributions will be calculated based on her life expectancy. Which, obviously, is much longer than her mother’s was at the end.  So, the dollar value of the distributions drops, and the bulk of the account continues to grow tax deferred for a long time—and Sally benefits from the power of compounding.

You all know that I am a big fan of paying taxes later.  So, if you have done flexible estate planning, like Lange’s Cascading Beneficiary Plan, and if you can afford it, here is an even more dramatic possibility. Since the flexible estate plan allows Sally to disclaim the Inherited IRA (she doesn’t need the money), she can pass it directly to her son, Phillip (her parents’ grandchild). Now, Phillip is in his thirties and his required minimum distribution is even lower.  Think of how long that deferral can run!

And, if you REALLY want to think of something incredible, imagine that this retirement plan is a Roth rather than a traditional IRA.  Now, all those distributions are tax free and we are really talking about building generational wealth.  The video with this post goes into detail about how IRAs are treated after death, and provides examples using specialized software that show how family wealth can grow using inherited IRAs and Roth IRAs—with the caveat is that this is how things work under the current law.

Unfortunately, we still believe that the death of the stretch IRA will pass in 2017 or 2018.  What is going to happen, subject to exception, is that the non-spouse beneficiary will no longer be permitted to stretch distributions of an Inherited IRAs over his or her lifetime. Any amount over $450,000 will be required to be disbursed within 5 years of the IRA owners’ death. Potentially devastating! There are some work-arounds that we have devised in anticipation of the law changing but this is precisely why flexible estate planning is so critical. Enjoy the video.

See you next week!

-Jim

P.S. If you want to do a little advanced study on this topic before the next post and video, go to https://paytaxeslater.com/estate-planning/.

The Best & Most Flexible Solution for Your Estate Planning Concerns: Lange’s Cascading Beneficiary Plan

Posted on by in Beneficiary Designations, Estate Planning, Lange’s Cascading Beneficiary Plan, Retirement Plan Options, Retirement Planning and tagged , , , , , , , .

The Ultimate in Flexible Estate Planning:
Lange’s Cascading Beneficiary Plan

The Ultimate in Flexible Estate Planning: Lange's Cascading Beneficiary Plan

This post is the first of series on Lange’s Cascading Beneficiary Plan, the gold standard in estate planning for traditional married couples.

What is Lange’s Cascading Beneficiary Plan?

Estate planning would be so much easier if we just had a crystal ball. We simply cannot predict the future with much confidence. And the unknowns stretch beyond the plan rules, tax laws, and the investment environment. Family and financial circumstances can change dramatically over time as well. So we are faced with questions like: How much money will you have? How much money will you need? How many grandchildren will you have? Who will live the longest?  An estate plan that is intricately thought through and seems in-line with your testamentary intent today could be completely inappropriate once you die.

In the early nineties, I began thinking creatively about this problem. My objective was to revolutionize my firm’s estate planning practice by drafting documents that could accommodate changing circumstances—the key, as I saw it, would be flexibility within a reasonable set of assumptions. Lange’s Cascading Beneficiary Plan, as it came to be called, uses specific language and disclaimers to provide the most flexibility when it is needed the most—at the time of the death of the first spouse when the surviving spouse and the family have the most current picture of their finances and family dynamics.  We were aiming for less guess work decades in advance!

I thought it was the best thing since sliced bread!  And it turns out, I wasn’t alone.  Not only did my estate planning clients love the idea of giving the surviving spouse the option to make important financial decisions at the time of the first death, Jane Bryant Quinn did too.  She picked up on it through an article I wrote and sent out to my email list.  She first published a description of Lange’s Cascading Beneficiary Plan in Newsweek and from there, it has been featured in dozens of major publications like The Wall Street Journal and Kiplinger’s.  The plan is also featured in my flagship book, Retire Secure!, along with other nuggets of my best retirement and estate planning recommendations.  (By the way, you can download a free copy of the book from www.paytaxeslater.com/books or buy it on Amazon if you’d like a hard copy)!

We have been drafting this type of plan now for more than 25 years.  It works beautifully with our other cutting-edge strategies including stretch IRAs, Roth IRA conversions, and inventive gifting plans. Clients are happy knowing they have flexibility built into their plans, and sadly, but realistically, we have had to execute many plans over the years.  Fortunately, we have also been there to witness the peace of mind that the surviving spouse and heirs get from knowing they are making the best decisions possible given the circumstances.

What to expect in this series:

Over the next few weeks, I am going to spell out the details of Lange’s Cascading Beneficiary Plan.  Sure, I might slip in a current event post or two, but I am going to focus on providing you with a full understanding of what I truly believe to be the best in estate planning for traditional married couples.  I’ll explain which situations LCBP is best suited for, walk you step-by-step though the decision making, discuss how it can be adjusted to fit almost any situation to provide the greatest flexibility and tax savings, and tell you why flexibility will be more important than ever.

Let’s face it, tax changes are coming in our near future, but they will also inevitably change again in the more distant future. That is the nature of the beast. So, having a plan that can adjust to changes, that doesn’t fix things in stone, can give you a measure of comfort that you won’t end up with estate planning documents that have to be redrafted with every single change!  In my opinion, one of the best things you can do for your family is to develop a smart and flexible estate plan that saves them from additional stress and anxiety when you are gone.

Thanks for reading, as always, and stop back soon!

-Jim

P.S. If you want to do a little advanced study on this topic before the next post and video, go to https://paytaxeslater.com/estate-planning/.

 

How Lange’s Cascading Beneficiary Plan can help protect your family against the Death of the Stretch IRA

Posted on by in Beneficiary Designations, Inherited IRAs, Lange’s Cascading Beneficiary Plan, Stretch IRA, Video Resources and tagged , , , , , .

Lange’s Cascading Beneficiary Plan may be a good option to protect your family against the Death of the Stretch IRA

Using Langes Cascading Beneficiary Program as a Possible Solution for Death of the Stretch IRA James Lange

When I meet with new clients for the first time, one of the most aggravating things that I often find is that their existing estate planning documents are “set in stone”, and can cause the estate to be subject to unnecessary taxes.  What do I mean by that?

Let’s say you have Jack and Jill, and their three kids John, James and Judy.   Jack is 87, and Jill is 86.  Jack and Jill both had wills that said, “I want my spouse to inherit everything, but if he or she is dead then I want my children to get everything.”  Sound familiar?   After Jack and Jill both die, their assets will be passed on to their kids as they specified, most certainly.  The problem is that their kids will more than likely end up with less money than they could have.

Why is that?  Jack dies, leaving $3 million to his wife.  Is it really likely that Jill is going to need $3 million to live on for the rest of her life?  Probably not.  The vast majority of wealthy individuals that I’ve worked with are in that position because they have never led an extravagant lifestyle, and in my experience, leopards don’t change their spots all that easily.    More than likely, what will happen is that, a few years down the road, Jill will die with even more money in the bank.  Their hard-earned savings will eventually go to their children as they wanted, but Jack and Jill may have missed the chance to use Lange’s Cascading Beneficiary Plan and possibly save them a significant amount of taxes due on their inheritance.

Using Disclaimers in Your Estate Plan

A disclaimer simply means that your beneficiary says “I don’t want this money that I’ve been given”.  So let’s assume that Jack names Jill as his primary beneficiary, and their three children as contingent beneficiaries.  After Jack’s death, Jill has nine months to think about it and, if she says “I want that money”, she gets it.  But what happens if Jill is terminally ill and doesn’t expect to live much longer?  She can disclaim the money say “I will never live long enough to spend $3 million, but I would like to have $300,000 for my own use.  The remaining $2.7 million can go directly to our kids.”  Jill can’t change what Jack has instructed – meaning that she can’t cause one child to receive more money than what he specified, or ask that some of the money be given to their grandchildren if Jack didn’t include them as beneficiaries.  But she can step aside and say “I don’t need all of this money; give it to the next one in line”.  By disclaiming, Jill allows Jack’s money to be passed directly to their children if she doesn’t need it.  In many cases, disclaiming can be far more tax-efficient than having Jill inherit all of the money, never using it, and then passing on to their children.

Lange’s Cascading Beneficiary Plan (LCBP)

Many years ago, I designed a groundbreaking concept that I call Lange’s Cascading Beneficiary Plan.  It incorporates the use of disclaimers into the estate plan, which allows your surviving spouse to have maximum flexibility after your death.  This type of flexible estate planning can make a huge difference for your beneficiaries after your death.  Assuming that your wills contain the appropriate language that meets both federal and state requirements for a valid disclaimer, your beneficiary can make decisions that are based on your family’s situation and tax laws that are in effect long after your will was prepared.  And the best part is that they have up to nine months after your death to disclaim – so their decision can be based on your family circumstances and the tax laws that are in effect at the time.

Lange’s Cascading Beneficiary Plan may become an even more valuable estate planning tool after the legislation that I call the Death of the Stretch IRA is passed.  Please stop back soon for an update.

-Jim

For more information on this topic, please visit our Death of the Stretch IRA resource.

 

P.S. Did you miss a video blog post?  Here are the past video blog posts in this video series.

Will New Rules for Inherited IRAs Mean the Death of the Stretch IRA?

Are There Any Exceptions to the Death of the Stretch IRA Legislation?

How will your Required Minimum Distributions Work After the Death of the Stretch IRA Legislation?

Can a Charitable Remainder Unitrust (CRUT) Protect your Heirs from the Death of the Stretch IRA?

What Should You Be Doing Now to Protect your Heirs from the Death of the Stretch IRA?

How Does The New DOL Fiduciary Rule Affect You?

Why is the Death of the Stretch IRA legislation likely to pass?

The Exclusions for the Death of the Stretch IRA

Using Gifting and Life Insurance as a Solution to the Death of the Stretch IRA

Using Roth Conversions as a Possible Solution for Death of the Stretch IRA

How Lange’s Cascading Beneficiary Plan can help protect your family against the Death of the Stretch IRA

How Flexible Estate Planning Can be a Solution for Death of the Stretch IRA

New Social Security Rule Will Hurt Women by Eliminating Benefits Options

Posted on by in Beneficiary Designations, Estate Planning, Lange’s Cascading Beneficiary Plan, Retire Secure!, Retirement Planning, Social Security, The Lange Money Hour, Video Resources and tagged , .

James Lange, CPA/Attorney, Advises Married Couples Ages 62-70 to Apply and Suspend NOW. After April 29, 2016, it will be too late!

In early November, President Obama signed the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 into law and the repercussions are devastating to the married women of our country.

Pittsburgh – December 16, 2015 – Lange Financial Group, James Lange, Pittsburgh, Social SecurityMarried women, statistically the widows of the future, will pay a high price due to the changes that the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 has made to Social Security. Pittsburgh attorney and CPA James Lange takes action by releasing audio and video presentations as well as transcripts and a report that will help couples ages 62-70 navigate this new rule and protect their benefits while they still can!

SOCIAL SECURITY SURVIVOR BENEFITS ARE CRITICAL TO WOMEN

The financial well-being of widows is often dependent upon the choices that are made while their spouses are still alive. Spousal and survivor Social Security benefit choices can mean the difference between living comfortably in retirement and falling under the poverty line for women whose spouses leave them behind. Widows are commonly younger than their deceased husbands and the Social Security benefits they have earned, especially in the Boomer generation, are commonly less than that of their deceased husbands. This means that a widow will depend on collecting survivor benefits, often for many years, based on the benefits to which their deceased spouses were entitled.

“One of the best things a husband can do to protect his wife in widowhood is to maximize his own Social Security benefits. One technique that we use with our clients is apply & suspend.” James Lange of Pittsburgh-based, Lange Financial Group, LLC comments. “The law prior to the Bipartisan Act allowed the husband to apply for, and then suspend collection of his benefits, while allowing his wife to collect a spousal benefit. It was a win-win for our clients!”

This technique was used strategically to maximize the husband’s and wife’s long-term benefits. That, unfortunately, is coming to an end, with the exception of certain couples who take the appropriate action between now and April 29, 2016. For many couples, the income stream from spousal benefits in the previously allowed apply and suspend technique made it possible (or at least more palatable) for the husband to wait until age 70 to collect Social Security, thus maximizing their benefits.

“This new law cuts off that income stream, making it if not impossible, at least more difficult, for husbands to choose to delay collection of their benefits.” Lange warns, “Unfortunately, it is the widows of these husbands who cannot maximize their Social Security benefits who will be left in reduced circumstances for the rest of their lives.”

JIM LANGE’S ADVICE

DO NOT WAIT. Congress has eliminated one of the best Social Security maximization strategies. Fortunately, some recipients may be grandfathered already and others could be grandfathered if they act between now and April 29, 2016. Others will have to make do with the new laws. In either case, now is the time to review your options. We have posted a one hour audio with a written transcript explaining the old law, the new law and the transition rules. Readers can go to www.paytaxeslater.com to access this audio and transcript.

ABOUT JAMES LANGE Jim Lange, Pittsburgh, Social Security

James Lange, CPA/Attorney is a nationally-known Roth IRA and retirement plan distribution expert. He’s also the best-selling author of three editions of Retire Secure! and The Roth Revolution: Pay Taxes Once and Never Again. He hosts a bi-weekly financial radio show, The Lange Money Hour, where he has welcomed numerous guests over the years including top experts in the fields of Social Security, IRAs, and investments.

With over 30 years of experience, Jim and his team have drafted over 2,000 wills and trusts with a focus on flexibility and meeting the unique needs of each client.

Jim’s recommendations have appeared 35 times in The Wall Street Journal, 23 times in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, The New York Times, Newsweek, Money magazine, Smart Money and Reader’s Digest. His articles have appeared in The Journal of Retirement Planning, Financial Planning, The Tax Adviser (AICPA), and other top publications. Most recently he has had two peer-reviewed articles published on Social Security maximization in the prestigious Trusts & Estates magazine.

To learn more, or sign up for their newsletter, visit www.paytaxeslater.com.

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