I was fortunate to be able to celebrate Mother’s Day this year with both my mom and dad (of course, brunch was involved). Although I’m a full-fledged member of the baby boom generation, when I’m with my parents, I somehow become a kid again (a millennial?), feebly trying to explain why I look so tired and don’t get more sleep. Maybe that’s why I, along with others of my generation, have a hard time focusing on retirement planning. Isn’t that something our parents need to worry about? But, as our Retirement Benefits Committee Report illustrates, this area is complicated and one that clients of all ages need to address.
Two of the articles in the Committee Report deal with issues involving charitable giving as part of retirement planning. In “How to Handle the Temporary Expiration of a Charitable IRA Rollover,” p. 41, Christopher R. Hoyt gives suggestions on how to advise clients interested in making gifts directly from their individual retirement accounts to charities, while we’re waiting for Congress to extend the Charitable IRA Rollover law. In “The 5 Percent Solution,” p. 38, Michael J. Jones extols the benefits of leaving an IRA to a charitable remainder trust that goes into effect on death. Steven E. Trytten, in “The Zen of Drafting See-Through Trusts,” p. 45, gives some practical advice on drafting various provisions of a trust that’s a beneficiary of an IRA. Steven also shares various sample trust provisions that you can access on the Trusts & Estates website. Speaking of our website, you can also get some insights into how President Obama’s fiscal year 2015 revenue proposals would affect retirement planning by reading Bruce D. Steiner’s article, “Fiscal Year 2015 Revenue Proposals Affecting Retirement Plans and IRAs” at http://bit.ly/1jSkW6y.
