The new year offers an excellent opportunity to get your financial house in order. This includes reviewing the beneficiary designation and vesting status of your accounts. These tasks help to ensure that funds are distributed according to your wishes and may help you decide whether it’s time for someone else to take responsibility for an account.
Major life events, like marriage, divorce, or birth of a child, are great reminders for individuals to review beneficiary designations. Adding or removing beneficiaries on life insurance policies, retirement accounts, and bank accounts, if available from your financial provider, are some ways to convey your preferences as to how you intend funds in those accounts to be distributed upon your death.
For example, Sarah recently got married and had a child. She decides to name her new spouse and child as beneficiaries on accounts, replacing her earlier designations.
Opening a youth account with a minor child can help them develop financial literacy from an early age. If the child is now an adult, remember that you remain a joint-owner and continue to share responsibility for the account. You are not automatically taken off of the account when the child turns 18 years of age. Check the vesting status and decide whether it’s time to remove yourself from the account.
For example, Sarah opened a Youth Banking Plus account for her daughter Emily when she was 13 years old. But now that Emily is 18, Sarah has a decision to make. Even though the account automatically advanced to a Wescom Personal Account when Emily turned 18, Sarah must decide whether to remain a joint-owner. In Emily's case, Sarah decided to stay on the account for another year to help Emily transition to managing her finances independently.
Schedule an in-person or virtual appointment online or call us at 1-888-4WESCOM (1-888-493-7266) for help with your Wescom account.
