RETIREMENT PLAN

“Leave a Legacy” - Beneficiary Designation on your Retirement Plan

Legacy gifts offer you the flexibility to change your gift in the future and also provide a gift to the Sisters after you are sure your lifetime needs are met. You can choose to leave a specific dollar amount or a percentage of your retirement plan to the SSMO Foundation. You can also name the SSMO Foundation as a contingent beneficiary, which ensures your primary beneficiary (i.e., spouse or child) is taken care of if he/she is still alive at your death.

Tax Benefits
  
Retirement plan assets can be taxed TWICE at your death. They are taxed once through your estate (if your estate is taxable) and then a second time in the hands of your heirs. When the beneficiary of your retirement plan makes a withdrawal from your IRA or 401(k) plan, it is taxed as income to the beneficiary. So, consider how that double tax treatment would effect the value of your own IRA or 401(k) plan. It greatly reduces the amount available to your spouse, children and other beneficiaries.

That is why it is important to consider naming a charity as beneficiary of your retirement plan assets. Your estate does not have to pay taxes on the assets going to charity because of a charitable estate tax deduction. Also, the charity does not have to pay income tax when they receive the money. They receive dollar for dollar the amount of your gift.

So, when planning your estate, consider naming the SSMO Foundation as beneficiary of your retirement plan and leave your other non-retirement plan assets to your spouse, children and other loved ones. It may preserve more of your estate for your heirs and ensure they get all that you intend them to.

IMPORTANT NOTE: It is important that you refer to the proper legal name of the Foundation when remembering the Sisters and their ministries in your will. Please refer to the “Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon Foundation” in your documents. The Foundation’s federal Tax ID is # 93-1253966.