Beneficiary Designations

401(k), IRA, life insurance, TOD/POD — the forms that override your will and the checklist most people miss.

Beneficiary designations override your will. A 401(k) form filled out in 2008 will pay your ex, not your current spouse, no matter what your will says. The single highest-leverage estate-planning task most people skip is auditing the beneficiary forms on their retirement, life-insurance, and bank/brokerage accounts. For the will see Wills & Online Will Services; for trusts see Living Trusts; for non-trust probate avoidance see Probate Avoidance; for the broader index see Estate, Will & End-of-Life Planning; for tax angle see Inheritance & Tax Planning.

Accounts that take a beneficiary form (★ audit each annually)

★ 401(k) / 403(b) / 457 — beneficiary form on the plan portal; federal law (REA) requires spouse consent to name a non-spouse.
★ IRA / Roth IRA — beneficiary form on the brokerage portal. Inherited-IRA rules changed under SECURE Act + SECURE 2.0 — most non-spouse beneficiaries must drain by year 10.
★ Life insurance — primary + contingent beneficiary on the policy.
★ Annuities — same.
★ HSA — beneficiary form; spouse keeps HSA status, others get taxable income.
Pension survivor benefits — election usually at retirement; spouse consent required to opt out.
529 college plans — successor / contingent owner.
Bank checking / savings (POD) — "payable on death" designation; free, instant probate avoidance.
Brokerage / TOD — "transfer on death" registration; same idea.
TOD vehicle title — state-dependent (CA, MO, OH, TX, etc.); free.
TOD deed for real estate — state-dependent (~30+ states); free.

Free checklists / resources (★)

★ ★ Bogleheads wiki — "Beneficiary designations" — free; the most thorough free resource in the personal-finance world; covers per-stirpes, contingent beneficiaries, trust-as-beneficiary, SECURE Act inherited-IRA. The single best read.
★ AARP Beneficiary Checklist — free; one-page audit list.
NerdWallet, Investopedia, Schwab/Fidelity/Vanguard Help Centers — free articles; broker-specific instructions.
Kitces.com — free + paid; the deep-end planning blog; great inherited-IRA SECURE 2.0 coverage.

Naming patterns that bite people

★ Naming "my estate" — sends the asset through probate; defeats the purpose. Name a person.
★ Naming a minor child directly — many states require a court-supervised guardianship of the assets. Name a UTMA custodian or a trust instead.
Out-of-date forms — divorce, death, marriage, new child — re-audit annually.
No contingent beneficiary — primary predeceases you, asset goes through probate.
Trust as beneficiary — works, but trust must qualify as a "see-through" trust for stretch IRA benefits; attorney territory.
Per stirpes vs per capita — per stirpes passes a deceased beneficiary's share to their children; per capita splits among survivors. Most people want per stirpes; many forms default to per capita.

The one annual audit (★ do this)

List every account that takes a beneficiary (above).
Pull the current beneficiary form from each portal (download PDF).
Confirm primary + contingent for each.
Cross-check with current life situation (divorce / new spouse / new kid).
Fix anything wrong today, not next quarter.
File the confirmation PDFs in Self-Hosted Vital Docs.

SECURE Act / SECURE 2.0 (US) — what changed

2020 SECURE Act — most non-spouse inherited-IRA beneficiaries must drain within 10 years (no more lifetime stretch). Eligible-designated-beneficiary exceptions: spouse, minor child of decedent (until majority), disabled / chronically ill, less than 10 years younger.
2022 SECURE 2.0 — RMD age moved to 73 (75 in 2033); some Roth changes; surviving-spouse election as own IRA simplified.
Practical impact — naming a much-younger non-spouse beneficiary loses some of the old stretch advantage; revisit.

License / pricing

Bogleheads wiki, AARP, NerdWallet, Investopedia, broker help centers, Kitces (free articles): free.
The actual beneficiary forms: free, on each provider's portal.
Attorney consult on trust-as-beneficiary: paid.

Pick this if…

Have not audited beneficiaries in 3+ years: stop reading and do the audit today.
Want one free reference: Bogleheads wiki — beneficiary designations.
Naming minor children: UTMA custodian or trust, not the kid directly.
Major life event (divorce, marriage, death, birth): re-audit immediately, before anything else estate-related.
Trust-as-beneficiary curiosity: read Kitces, then call an attorney.