Life and Death Planning for Retirement Benefits

Appendix C: Resources

This Appendix lists resources available to help professionals in planning for their clients’ retirement plan benefits. See also the Bibliography for more books and articles. Prices, ordering information and features change constantly, so check with the vendor before placing an order.

The Pension Answer Book

For “ERISA” law or other matters related to retirement plans that are primarily of importance to the plan administrator, plan trustee, and employer, and any other retirement plan question not covered by this book, I turn to the easy-to-navigate well-written Pension Answer Book , by Stephen J. Krass, Esq.; I strongly recommend it as the best resource for us non-ERISA specialists regarding retirement plan legal and tax issues. It covers “employer” issues such as the design, funding and qualification of retirement plans, as well as other pension topics not covered in this book, such as QDROs, prohibited transactions, life insurance in plans, etc.. www.wklawbusiness.com/ . $309; discount may be available if purchased at a trade show.

Ataxplan Website

Updates to this book, when available, may be downloaded free from the publisher’s website, www.ataxplan.com

Software

Most providers offer a downloadable demo at their web sites.

Brentmark Retirement Plan Analyzer. $570. Includes 6 months’ free maintenance; $179 annual update fee. Powerful feature-filled software to help planners analyze proposed plan distribution strategies from QRPs, IRAs and Roth IRAs (comparing multiple scenarios simultaneously), including income tax, estate tax and spousal rollover aspects. It also analyzes whether it is worthwhile to convert a traditional plan to a Roth IRA and computes pre-59½ SOSEPP distributions. The ideal user is an experienced planner with some training to understand the impact that changing assumptions has on outcome. For just running RMD and SOSEPP calculations (including RMDs for multiple beneficiaries), use Brentmark’s Retirement Distributions Planner ($224). Brentmark Software, Inc., 3505 Lake Lynda Drive # 119, Orlando FL 32817-8333; 1-800-879-6665 or 407-306-6160; www.brentmark.com/ . The Brentmark web site has lots of free information and useful links; a top web site for professionals on retirement distributions planning. NumberCruncher by Stephen Leimberg runs projections for pre-age-59½ “SOSEPPs” (see ¶ 9.2 ) as well as “almost 100” estate planning calculations (CRTs, CLTs, GRATs, etc.). It is an indispensable tool for estate planners; extremely easy to use and intuitive for non-techie types. Leimberg & LeClair Inc., PO Box 1332, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010, (610) 924-0515. Order at www.leimberg.com .