9 Things to Know About IRA Beneficiaries Under the Secure Act

The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (Secure) Act of 2019 upended the withdrawal and taxation rules for inherited individual retirement accounts for most non-spousal beneficiaries. Most dramatically, the Secure Act established a 10-year rule for withdrawing from inherited IRAs that eliminated the popular, but at times controversial, ability to "stretch" inherited IRAs for these beneficiaries. But the law also included a significant number of other important changes that financial advisors and their clients have to grapple with in the income planning and estate process. Ann Hagerty, advanced sales counsel at Securian Financial, recently walked through this history for reporters and financial professionals during an in-depth webcast presentation by the Financial Planning Association, during which she dissected the big changes made to IRA beneficiary and inheritance rules in recent years. See the accompanying slide deck for key facts about several types of IRA beneficiaries, drawn from Hagerty's presentation.