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

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..

$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,

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;

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

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