What Should I know about Financial Powers of Attorney? – Annapolis and Towson Estate Planning

A financial power of attorney is a document allowing an “attorney-in-fact” or “agent” to act on the principal’s behalf. It usually allows the agent to pay the principal’s bills, access her accounts, pay her taxes and buy and sell investments. This person, in effect, assumes the responsibilities of the principal and can act for the principal in all areas detailed in the document.

Kiplinger’s recent article from April entitled “What Are the Duties for Financial Powers of Attorney?” acknowledges that these responsibilities may sound daunting, and it is only natural to feel a little overwhelmed initially. Here are some facts that will help you understand what you need to do.

Read and do not panic. Review the power of attorney document and know the extent of what the principal has given you power to handle in their stead.

Understand the scope. Make a list of the principal’s assets and liabilities. If the individual for whom you are caring is organized, then that will be simple. Otherwise, you will need to find these items:

  • Brokerage and bank accounts
  • Retirement accounts
  • Mortgage papers
  • Tax bills
  • Utility, phone, cable, and internet bills
  • Insurance premium invoices

Take a look at the principal’s spending patterns to see any recurring expenses. Review their mail for a month to help you to determine where the money comes and goes. If your principal is over age 72 and has granted you the power to manage her retirement plan, do not forget to make any required minimum distributions (RMDs). If your principal manages her finances online, you will need to contact their financial institutions and establish that you have power of attorney, so that you can access these accounts.

Guard the principal’s assets. Make certain that her home is secure. You might make a video inventory of the residence. If it looks like your principal will be incapacitated for a long time, you might stop the phone and newspaper. Watch out for family members taking property and saying that it had been promised to them (or that it belonged to them all along).

Pay bills. Be sure to monitor your principal’s bills and credit card statements for potential fraud. You might temporarily suspend credit cards that you will not be using on the principal’s behalf. Remember that they may have monthly bills paid automatically by credit card.

Pay taxes. Many powers of attorney give the agent the power to pay the principal’s taxes. If so, you will be responsible for filing and paying taxes during the principal’s lifetime. If the principal dies, the executor of the principal’s will is responsible and will prepare the final taxes.

Ask about estate planning. See if there is an estate plan and ask a qualified estate planning attorney for help. If the principal resides in a nursing home paid by Medicaid, talk to an elder law attorney as soon as possible to save the principal’s estate at least some of the costs of their care.

Keep records. Track your expenditures made on your principal’s behalf. This will help you demonstrate that you have upheld your duties and acted in the principal’s best interests, as well as for reimbursement for expenses.

Always act in the principal’s best interest. If you do not precisely know the principal’s expectations, then always act with their best interests in mind. Contact the principal’s attorney who prepared the power of attorney for guidance.

Reference: Kiplinger (April 22, 2020) “What Are the Duties for Financial Powers of Attorney?”

Sims & Campbell, LLC – Annapolis and Towson Estate Planning Attorneys

The SECURE Act and Your Retirement – Annapolis and Towson Estate Planning

For anyone who has saved a high six- or seven-figure balance in their retirement accounts, the SECURE Act will definitely affect their retirement plans. That includes 401(k)s, 403(b)s, and other workplace plans, as well as traditional IRAs and Roth IRA accounts. The article “How the new Secure Act affects your retirement” from the Daily Camera provides a clear picture of the changes.

Stretch IRAs are Curtailed. Anyone who inherited an IRA (traditional or Roth) from a parent before 2020, may take Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) from those accounts over their own life expectancy. Let us say a parent died when you were 48—you could stretch those distributions out over the course of 36 years. This option gave heirs the ability to spread income and the taxes that come with the income out over decades—with little distributions having little impact on taxes. If you inherited a Roth IRA, you could benefit from its tax-free growth over your entire lifetime.

All that is changed now. A non-spousal heir (or one who is disabled, chronically ill or a minor child) now has ten years in which to take their distributions. They have to pay ordinary income taxes on the amount they take out, over a far shorter period of time. Newly inherited Roth IRAs have the same rules, but usually there are no taxes due. If a minor inherits an IRA, once they reach the age of majority, they have ten years in which to take their distributions.

A Small Break for Required IRA Distributions. Until the SECURE Act, retirees had to start taking their RMDs out of IRAs soon after turning 70½. The new age for taking RMDs is now 72 for those who are younger than age 70½ at the end of 2019. This will not alter the plans of most retirees, since they usually start taking those distributions well before age 72 to cover expenses. Roth IRAs have another benefit: they continue to escape distribution requirements, unless they are inherited.

No Age Cap for Traditional IRA Contributions. Workers may now continue to contribute funds into a traditional IRA at any age. Before the SECURE Act, workers had to stop contributing funds once they turned 70½. Note that you or your spouse are still required to have earned income to put funds in a traditional or Roth IRA.

Other Changes. There are many more changes from the SECURE Act and thought leaders in the estate planning community will be reviewing and analyzing the law for months, or perhaps years, to come. Some of the changes that are widely recognized already include the ability to withdraw $5,000 penalty-free from retirement plan accounts per newly born or adopted child, although in most cases, income tax will need to be paid on the withdrawal.

Section 529 educational savings accounts can be used, up to a lifetime limit of $10,000 per student, to pay off student loans. In most states, this will be considered a non-qualified withdrawal and state income taxes will be due, but at least the money can be used for this purpose.

Lastly, there are new tax credits available to smaller companies that set up new retirement plans, and there are new rules regarding including part-time employees in company sponsored 401(k) plans.

The changes from the SECURE Act, particularly regarding the loss of the IRA Stretch, have created a need for people to review their estate plans, if they included leaving large retirement accounts to their children. Speak with your estate planning attorney to ensure that your plan still works.

Reference: Daily Camera (Jan. 11, 2020) “How the new Secure Act affects your retirement”

Sims & Campbell, LLC – Annapolis and Towson Estate Planning Attorneys

What’s the Best Way to Take My Required Minimum Distribution? – Annapolis and Towson Estate Planning

CNBC’s recent article, “These tips can help retirees make required minimum distributions easy and tax penalty free,” gives the steps to follow, so we don’t leave money on the table.

RMDs or required minimum distributions, are the minimum amount people age 70½ and older must withdraw from their retirement funds. If you’ve inherited a retirement account, you may also have to make a withdrawal. The amount you need to withdraw varies from year to year and is based on specific calculations, including what your account values were as of December 31 the prior year and your age.

The time to get started on your RMD for this year is right now, because the paperwork may take some time. You have until April 1, if you just turned 70½ this year. Let’s look at a few tips:

Get your paperwork organized. In order to know how much you have to withdraw, you have to have an accurate picture of what you own. Create a list of accounts and take an inventory first, so you know where all your retirement accounts are located.

Know what you can take from what account. If you have multiple IRAs, you can take your total RMD from any one of those accounts because of the aggregation rule. However, with multiple IRAs, you still must calculate the amount you take out based on the value of all of them. It’s that same with multiple 403(b) retirement accounts. The rule doesn’t apply to 401(k) plans. If you have multiple 401(k) accounts, you must take money from each one, and you can’t take an RMD from an IRA to satisfy a 401(k), or vice versa.

Understand the rules, if you’re still working. If you’re 70½ and still employed, you could get a break from taking your RMD in certain circumstances. Generally, 401(k) plans have a still-working rule, which stipulates that you don’t have to take the RMD until you retire. However, you can only delay the RMDs, if the plan is attached to the company where you’re currently employed. Other accounts from a previous employer are excluded, so you must still take distributions from those.

Keep an eye on any inherited accounts. If you’ve inherited a retirement account, you may have to take an RMD by the end of this year. That generally doesn’t apply if you inherited the money from your spouse, because spouses can do a rollover and keep postponing the distributions. However, if you’re a non-spouse beneficiary, you probably must take a distribution by the end of 2019. If you inherited the account in 2018, you’ll need to take your first RMD in 2019.

RMDs from a Roth IRA will likely be tax-free. However, if you’ve inherited one of these accounts and you didn’t take that money out, you’ll have to pay a 50% penalty on the funds you should’ve withdrawn.

Consider giving to charity. A good way to avoid paying taxes on your RMD, is to give the money to charity. A qualified charitable distribution lets you make donations to a charity directly from your IRA, instead of taking the RMD yourself. Therefore, if your RMD is $5,000, and you typically give $5,000 to charity each year, you can donate that money directly and not pay tax on it.

Reference: CNBC (November 29, 2019) “These tips can help retirees make required minimum distributions easy and tax penalty free”

Sims & Campbell, LLC – Annapolis and Towson Estate Planning Attorneys

What 2020 Tax Changes May Bring for Wealthy Families – Annapolis and Towson Estate Planning

What happens in the political landscape in 2020 could have an impact on wealthy individuals, in a positive and a negative way. The biggest impact may be changes in estate and income taxes. With income taxes, the tax brackets are indexed, so they will go higher in 2020. There are also new IRS thresholds, so people will need to be aware of these changes.

The article “What Wealthy Clients Need to Know About 2020 Tax Changes” from Financial Advisor offers a look at what’s coming next year.

The tax rates were generally lowered, and thresholds increased. The top bracket for married couples in 2017 was 39.6% for couples whose taxable income was higher than $470,700. In 2020, that same bracket is 37%, with a new income threshold of $622,051.

There are more holiday gifts from the IRS. The estate exemption increases to $11.58 million in 2020, although the annual exclusion for gifts stays at $15,000. The maximums for retirement account contributions have also been increased.

The mandated penalty for not having health insurance is gone. Therefore, anyone who has the income to self-insure without having a policy that is ACA-qualified won’t have to pay a penalty. However, that varies by state: California enforces a tax penalty for people who do not have health insurance.

A major consideration for 2020 is the higher standard deduction. This may mean more strategic planning for which years people should itemize. Some experts are advising that taxpayers bunch their deductions, so they can itemize. One strategy is to do this every other year.

Many nonprofits are advising their donors to plan their charitable giving to take place every other year for the same reason.

With the stock market continuing to hit record highs, it may also make sense for people to transfer highly appreciated securities to donor advised funds.

Another potentially big series of changes that is still pending is the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act of 2019. The legislation is still pending, but it is likely that some form of the bill will become law, and there will be further changes regarding retirement accounts and taxes. The bill passed the House in the spring, but it still pending in the Senate.

Reference: Financial Advisor (December 2, 2019) “What Wealthy Clients Need to Know About 2020 Tax Changes”

Sims & Campbell, LLC – Annapolis and Towson Estate Planning Attorneys

I’ve Inherited an IRA – Now, What about Taxes? – Annapolis and Towson Estate Planning

Inheriting an IRA comes with several constraints. As a result, it can be tricky to navigate. You are at an intersection of tax planning, financial planning and estate planning, says Bankrate’s article “7 inherited IRA rules all beneficiaries must know.” There are a number of choices for you to make, depending upon your situation. How can you figure out what to do?

Whatever your situation, do NOT cash out the IRA, or roll it into a non-IRA account. Doing this could make the entire IRA taxable as regular income. Do nothing until you have the right advisors in place. For most people, the best step is to find an estate planning attorney who is experienced with inherited IRAs.

Here’s what you need to know:

The rules are different for spouses. A spouse heir of an IRA can do one of three things:

  • Name himself as the owner and treat the IRA as if it was theirs;
  • Treat the IRA as if it was his, by rolling it into another IRA or a qualified employer plan, including 403(b) plans;
  • Treat himself as the beneficiary of the plan.

Each of these actions may create additional choices for the spousal heir. For example, if a spouse inherits the IRA and treats it as his own, he may have to start taking required minimum distributions, depending on his age.

“Stretch” or choose the 5-year rule. Non-spouse heirs have two options:

  • Take distributions over their life expectancy, known as the “stretch” option, which leaves the funds in the IRA for as long as possible, or
  • Liquidate the entire account within five years of the original owner’s death. That comes with a hefty tax burden.

Congress is considering legislation that may eliminate the stretch option, but the proposed law has not been passed as of this writing. The stretch option is the golden ticket for heirs, letting the IRA grow for years without being liquidated and having to pay taxes. If the IRA is a Roth IRA, taxes were paid before the money went into the account.

Non-spouse beneficiaries need to act promptly, if they want to take the stretch option. There is a cutoff date for taking the first withdrawal, depending upon whether the original account owner was over or under 70 ½ years old.

There are year-of-death distribution requirements. If the original owner has taken his or her RMD in the year that they died, the beneficiary needs to make sure the minimum distribution has been taken.

There might be a tax break. For estates subject to the federal estate tax, inheritors of an IRA may get an income-tax deduction for the estate taxes paid on the account. The taxable income earned (but not received by the deceased individual) is “income in respect of a decedent.”

Make sure the beneficiary forms are properly filled out. This is for the IRA owners. If a form is incomplete, doesn’t name a beneficiary or is not on record with the custodian, the beneficiary may be stuck with no option but the five-year distribution of the IRA.

A poorly drafted trust can sink the IRA. If a trust is listed as a primary beneficiary of an IRA, it must be done correctly. If not, some custodians won’t be able to determine who the qualified beneficiaries are, in which case the IRS’s accelerated distribution rules for IRAs will be required. Work with an estate planning attorney who is experienced with the rules for leaving IRAs to trusts.

Reference: Bankrate (Nov. 19, 2019) “7 inherited IRA rules all beneficiaries must know.”

Sims & Campbell, LLC – Annapolis and Towson Estate Planning Attorneys

Not Having a Will Should Scare You and Your Family – Annapolis and Towson Estate Planning

For families of people who don’t have a will, dealing with their estate is an expensive, stressful and time-consuming experience.

A will isn’t anything to be afraid of, says the Herald Journal in the article “It’s Halloween, do you have a will?” Here’s a list of things not to do that should be useful for anyone who doesn’t have a will yet.

Don’t procrastinate. You can keep on waiting until there’s a better time, but life has a way of happening while we’re waiting. Now is the time to do your will. For your sake and your family’s sake, don’t put it off any longer.

This is not a do-it-yourself project. No matter how simple you think your estate is, it isn’t. A form that you download from a website may not be legal in your state. Nothing can replace the sense of security that sitting down with an experienced estate planning attorney can give to you and your family. You’ll know that your will is legally valid in your state, follows all the right steps and was created for your unique situation.

An estate plan requires more than a will. There are many other documents and strategies to consider. Chances are that you already have more than a few other accounts to consider, like an insurance policy, investment accounts and jointly owned accounts. For an estate plan to protect you and your family, you’ll need a power of attorney, health care power of attorney, a living will and possibly a trust. A qualified attorney will help you coordinate all of your assets and make sure everything is properly prepared.

Don’t set it and forget it. Your life changes and so should your estate plan. There have been some large changes to the tax law in recent years and a number of bills are now pending in Congress that may bring even bigger changes in 2020. Your family may have celebrated a marriage, welcomed a new child or experienced a loss. All of these issues require updates to your estate plan.

Don’t hide your will and estate planning documents. Having all of these documents prepared properly is step one. The next step is to make sure that your family members know where the documents have been stored and how to access them. They should not be in a safe deposit box, as those are usually sealed upon the death of the owner. If you don’t own a waterproof, fireproof safe, consider purchasing one. Then tell a trusted family member where it is.

If charitable giving is part of your life, make it part of your legacy. Making a charitable gift as part of your estate plan can be helpful in reducing your estate taxes. It also sends a positive message about philanthropy to your family.

Make an appointment with an estate planning attorney to create your will, establish protection for yourself and your spouse in case of incapacity and create a legacy.

Reference: Herald Journal (October 26, 2019) “It’s Halloween, do you have a will?”

Sims & Campbell, LLC – Annapolis and Towson Estate Planning Attorneys

How Can Beneficiary Designations Wreck My Estate Plan? – Annapolis and Towson Estate Planning

It’s not uncommon for the intent of an individual’s will and trust to be overridden by beneficiary designations that weren’t chosen carefully.

Some people think that naming a beneficiary should be a simple job and they try to do it themselves. Others don’t want to bother their attorney with what seems like a straightforward issue. A well-intentioned financial advisor could also complete the change of beneficiary form incorrectly.

Beneficiary designations are often used for life insurance and retirement benefits, but more frequently, they’re also being used for brokerage and bank accounts. People trying to avoid probate may name a “payable on death” beneficiary of an account. However, they don’t know that doing this may undermine their existing estate plan. It’s best to consult with your attorney to make certain that your named beneficiaries are consistent with your estate planning documents.

Wealth Advisor’s “7 Ways That Beneficiary Designations Can Mess Up Your Estate Plan” lists seven issues you need to think about when making your beneficiary designations.

Cash. If your will leaves cash to various people or charities, you need to make certain that sufficient money comes into your estate so your executor can pay these gifts.

Estate tax liability. If assets do pass outside your estate to a named beneficiary, make certain there will be sufficient money in your estate and trust to pay your estate tax lability. If all your assets pass by beneficiary designation, your executor may not have enough money to pay the estate taxes that may be due at your death.

Protect your tax savings. If you have created trusts for estate tax purposes, make sure that sufficient assets flow into your trusts to maximize the estate tax savings. Designating individuals as beneficiaries instead of your trusts may defeat the purpose of your estate tax planning. If there aren’t enough assets in your trust, the estate tax provisions may not work. As a result, your heirs may eventually end up paying more in taxes.

Accurate records. Be sure the information you have on the change of beneficiary form is accurate. This is particularly important if the beneficiary is a trust—the trust name, trustee information and tax identification number all need to be right.

Spouses as beneficiaries. Many people name their spouse as the primary beneficiary of their life insurance policy, followed by their trust as the secondary beneficiary. However, this may defeat your estate planning, especially if you have children from a first marriage, or if you don’t want your spouse to control the assets. If your trust provides for your surviving spouse on your death, he or she will be taken care of from the trust.

No last minute changes. Some people change their beneficiary designations at the last minute because they’re nervous about assets flowing into a trust. This could lead to increased estate tax payments and litigation from heirs who were left out.

Qualified accounts. Don’t name a trust as the beneficiary of qualified accounts, like an IRA, without consulting with your attorney. Trusts that receive such qualified money need to contain special provisions for income tax purposes.

Be sure that your beneficiary designations work with your estate planning rather than against it.

Reference: Wealth Advisor (October 8, 2019) “7 Ways That Beneficiary Designations Can Mess Up Your Estate Plan”

Sims & Campbell, LLC – Annapolis and Towson Estate Planning Attorneys

How to Keep Giving After We Are Gone – Annapolis and Towson Estate Planning

Americans are a generous people, giving of our time and resources through donations and volunteering. However, according to the article “Charitable conundrum: Why do we give up on giving at death?” from the Austin Business Journal, less than one out of nine individuals include a charitable donation as part of their estate plan.

Why do we stop giving at death? We know that the causes we care about continue to work after we are gone. There are many reasons for this, but perhaps the biggest reason behind his omission is that we tend to avoid estate planning. It’s an emotional challenge, preparing in a very real way to leave the world we enjoy with our loved ones. It’s not as much fun as going fly fishing or playing with the grandchildren.

Here are a few ways to include charitable giving in your estate plan, even when you aren’t having your estate plan created or reviewed.

Charitable beneficiaries. You can make a charity a partial beneficiary of a retirement account. They can be added as a primary beneficiary or as a contingent beneficiary. These changes can be made simply by contacting the custodian of the account and following their instructions for changing beneficiaries. Note that in certain states, spousal approval is required for any beneficiary changes. You can use this opportunity to also update your beneficiaries.

There’s a tax benefit in doing this. Charitable beneficiaries do not have to pay income tax on retirement distributions, although individuals do. Depending on the income level of an individual beneficiary, an heir could lose more than 40% of the inherited retirement account to state and local taxes.

The addition of a charitable beneficiary may restrict the ability for family members to stretch the receipt of retirement assets over time. Check with your estate planning attorney to make sure your good deed does not cause a hardship for family members.

Create a charitable IRA of your own. Another way to use retirement funds for a donation, is to roll some assets out of a main retirement account into a smaller retirement account with only charitable beneficiaries. Instead of consolidating accounts, you are doing the opposite, but for a good reason. This will allow you to manage the amount of money being left to the charity and take required or discretionary distributions from whichever account you choose.

Life insurance and annuities. Both of these vehicles use beneficiary designations, so the same strategy can be used for these accounts. Typically, the annuity must still be in the deferral state—not annuitized—and the life insurance contract must allow for changes to be made to the beneficiaries, which is true for most accounts. Note that life insurance proceeds are non-taxable to individuals and charities and annuity proceeds are generally partially tax-free to individual heirs (amount of basis in the contract).

Talk with your estate planning attorney about the optimal strategies for making charitable giving part of your estate plan. Your situation may differ and there may be other ways to maximize the wealth that is shared with charities and with your family.

Reference: Austin Business Journal (October 2, 2019) “Charitable conundrum: Why do we give up on giving at death?”

Sims & Campbell, LLC – Annapolis and Towson Estate Planning Attorneys

What Do I Do With an Inherited IRA? – Annapolis and Towson Estate Planning

When a family member dies and you discover you’re the beneficiary of a retirement account, you’ll need to eventually make decisions about how to handle the money in the IRA that you will be inheriting.

Forbes’ recent article, “What You Need To Know About Inheriting An IRA,” says that being proactive and making informed decisions can help you reach your personal financial goals much more quickly and efficiently. However, the wrong choices may result in you forfeiting a big chunk of your inheritance to taxes and perhaps IRS penalties.

Assets transferred to a beneficiary aren’t required to go through probate. This includes retirement accounts like a 401(k), IRA, SEP-IRA and a Cash Balance Pension Plan. Here is some information on what you need to know, if you find yourself inheriting a beneficiary IRA.

Inheriting an IRA from a Spouse. The surviving spouse has three options when inheriting an IRA. You can simply withdraw the money, but you’ll pay significant taxes. The other options are more practical. You can remain as the beneficiary of the existing IRA or move the assets to a retirement account in your name. Most people just move the money into an IRA in their own name. If you’re planning on using the money now, leave it in a beneficiary IRA. You must comply with the same rules as children, siblings or other named beneficiaries, when making a withdrawal from the account. You can avoid the 10% penalty, but not taxation of withdrawals.

Inheriting an IRA from a Non-Spouse. You won’t be able to transfer this money into your own retirement account in your name alone. To keep the tax benefits of the account, you will need to create an Inherited IRA For Benefit of (FBO) your name. Then you can transfer assets from the original account to your beneficiary IRA. You won’t be able to make new contributions to an Inherited IRA. Regardless of your age, you’ll need to begin taking Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) from the new account by December 31st of the year following the original owner’s death.

The Three Distribution Options for a Non-Spouse Inherited IRA. Inherited IRAs come with a few options for distributions. You can take a lump-sum distribution. You’ll owe taxes on the entire amount, but there won’t be a 10% penalty. Next, you can take distributions from an Inherited IRA with the five-year distribution method, which will help you avoid RMDs each year on your Inherited IRA. However, you’ll need to have removed all of the money from the Inherited IRA by the end of five years.

For most people, the most tax-efficient option is to set up minimum withdrawals based on your own life expectancy. If the original owner was older than you, your required withdrawals would be based on the IRS Single Life Expectancy Table for Inherited IRAs. Going with this option, lets you take a lump sum later or withdraw all the money over five years if you want to in the future. Most of us want to enjoy tax deferral within the inherited IRA for as long as permitted under IRS rules. Spouses who inherit IRAs also have an advantage when it comes to required minimum distributions on beneficiary IRAs: they can base the RMD on their own age or their deceased spouse’s age.

When an Inherited IRA has Multiple Beneficiaries. If this is the case, each person must create his or her own inherited IRA account. The RMDs will be unique for each new account based on that beneficiary’s age. The big exception is when the assets haven’t been separated by the December 31st deadline. In that case, the RMDs will be based on the oldest beneficiaries’ age and will be based on this until the funds are eventually distributed into each beneficiary’s own accounts.

Inherited Roth IRAs. A Roth IRA isn’t subject to required minimum distributions for the original account owner. When a surviving spouse inherits a ROTH IRA, he or she doesn’t have to take RMDs, assuming they retitle the account or transfer the funds into an existing Roth in their own name. However, the rules are not the same for non-spouse beneficiaries who inherit a Roth. They must take distributions from the Roth IRA they inherit using one of the three methods described above (a lump sum, The Five-Year Rule, or life expectancy). If the money has been in the Roth for at least five years, withdrawal from the inherited ROTH IRA will be tax-free. This is why inheriting money in a Roth is better than the same amount in an inherited Traditional IRA or 401(k).

Speak with an experienced estate planning attorney about an Inherited IRA. The rules can be confusing, and the penalties can be costly.

Reference: Forbes (September 19, 2019) “What You Need To Know About Inheriting An IRA”

Sims & Campbell, LLC – Annapolis and Towson Estate Planning Attorneys

How Can I Plan for Medical Expenses in Retirement? – Annapolis and Towson Estate Planning

Healthcare can be one of the biggest expenses in retirement.

Fidelity Investments found that a 65-year-old newly retired couple will need $285,000 for medical expenses in retirement. That doesn’t include the annual cost of long-term care. In 2018, that expense ran from $18,720 for adult day care services to $100,375 for a private room in a nursing home, according to Investopedia’s recent article, “How to Plan for Medical Expenses in Retirement.”

Despite saving and preparing for retirement their entire lives, many retirees aren’t mentally or financially prepared for these types of expenses. A survey by HSA Bank found that 67% of adults 65 and older thought that they’d need less than $100,000 for healthcare. However, Fidelity calculated that males 65 and older will need $133,000—and females, $147,000—to pay for healthcare in retirement.

There are two important numbers for healthcare expenses in retirement: how much money is coming in and how much is going out. A typical person in their 60s has an estimated median savings of $172,000. On average, those 65 and older spend $3,800 per month, but Social Security only replaces about 40% of their working-life income.

Medicare can pay for some healthcare spending in retirement. However, there are some limitations. If a senior doesn’t have a Part D prescription drug policy, Medicare won’t cover medications. Medicare Parts A and B won’t cover dental and vision care, but Medicare Advantage plans typically do. Medicare also doesn’t offer coverage for long-term care. Medicare Advantage plans are offered through private insurers.

There are two ways pre-retirees can create a safety net for healthcare spending when they retire. One way is with a Health Savings Account (HSA). HSAs are available with high-deductible health plans and offer three tax advantages: (i) deductible contributions; (ii) tax-deferred growth; and (iii) tax-free withdrawals for qualified medical expenses. HSA funds can be used to pay for certain medical premiums, like Medicare premiums and long-term care insurance premiums. If you’re in your 50s, you can still maximize these plans by taking advantage of catch-up contributions and employer contributions. However, those already enrolled in Medicare can’t make new contributions to an HSA.

You can also buy long-term care insurance to fill the gap left by Medicare. This policy can pay a monthly benefit toward long-term care for a two-to three-year period.

Healthcare spending can easily take a big bite out of a retirement budget. Estimate your costs and design a strategy for spending to help preserve more retirement assets for other expenses.

Reference: Investopedia (June 25, 2019) “How to Plan for Medical Expenses in Retirement”

Sims & Campbell, LLC – Annapolis and Towson Estate Planning Attorneys