It is not too often that you associate a 401k with a really sad story.

 

This wasn’t one of my clients but I remember reading about it.

 

The story is about a young man that was working at a grain mill or maybe on a farm.  He was in his early 20’s and recently married.

 

He had a 401k plan and at his young age had already saved a large chunk of money.

 

Shortly after getting married he was involved in a freak accident at work and died.

 

He had named his parents as his beneficiary for his 401k and didn’t get around to changing this to his wife before he died.

 

You would assume the parents would give that money to the surviving daughter-in-law, they did not give her a penny of the money.

 

This could have been avoided if the beneficiary form had been updated.

 

So, what happens to your 401k when you die?

 

Do you need to change your beneficiary? Reevaluate your investments? Update any other information?

 

It only takes a few minutes to make these updates.

 

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