442
Life and Death Planning for Retirement Benefits
with payments to start at age 85, he removes $125,000 (plus the money that sum will hopefully
earn in the future) from the account balance that is used to compute his required distributions. That
should reduce his first year’s required distribution by $4,000–$5,000 he figures, saving a couple
thousand dollars of income taxes annually. True, he is just postponing the problem, since his
distributions will balloon after age 85, when the QLAC starts paying out. But by then he will be
retired, he figures, so his income tax bracket will be lower.
10.4 Annuity Payouts from Plans: Putting It All Together
Which form of benefit should the participant choose? That extremely important decision
should be made with the advice of a professional such as a financial planner or actuary. The answer
depends on a variety of factors including the participant’s health, other assets, income, and estate
planning objectives, the circumstances of the beneficiary(ies), the financial health of the pension
plan, and the degree (if any) to which the plan subsidizes one option or the other.
10.4.01
Drawback of nonspouse survivor annuities
Retirees choose a life annuity to provide for their own living expenses in retirement and
to protect against the danger of living too long, but are often loathe to accept the idea of the
insurance company’s (or plan’s) gaining a “windfall profit” if the retiree dies prematurely. To
avoid that result, a retiree may choose an annuity that provides benefits for a minimum guaranteed
term. Or the participant may choose an annuity that provides a survivor annuity to his beneficiary,
because he wants to provide an inheritance.
Providing a survivor benefit (either through a survivor annuity or through a guaranteed
term) to a beneficiary who is not a charity and who is not the participant’s spouse has gift and
estate tax consequences. The value of the survivor benefit is included in the participant’s estate
with no offsetting marital or charitable deduction. The estate tax rules for valuing annuity benefits
are considered unfavorable; see “The Booby Prize,” by Noel C. Ice and Robert W. Goff, in
Trusts
& Estates
(May 2006), p. 36. For this reason, a survivor annuity is not the best vehicle for wealth
transfer for clients with taxable estates. There may also be a taxable gift involved, if the participant
irrevocably elects a joint and survivor annuity with a nonspouse beneficiary.
The participant might better choose an annuity that provides the right level of income for
himself (and his spouse, if any). If his plan benefits would provide a larger income than they need,
the participant could take the excess as a lump sum distribution, roll that to an IRA, and leave
the
IRA
to chosen beneficiaries as an inheritance, rather than leaving them an inheritance in the form
of a survivor annuity, or a minimum guaranteed term, under the participant’s annuity. This
approach treats the annuity as something for the participant and spouse to consume during
retirement, and as longevity insurance, and uses other assets for wealth transfer.
10.4.02
Illustrations: Different choices
How do people choose among different forms of plan benefits? The best approach is to get
professional advice; see factors discussed at
¶ 10.4.03 .Here are examples of some of the
approaches people consider.