Estate planning at Empower

For ERISA-covered qualified retirement plans such as 401(k)s, 403(b)s, and pension plans, federal law requires written spousal consent if you name someone other than your spouse as the primary beneficiary. IRAs and nonqualified plans generally do not require spousal consent at the federal level, though state community property laws may apply.

Empower Personal Cash is a high-yield cash account earning 3.00% APY (3.30% APY with qualifying monthly deposits of $750+) with no account fees or minimum balance requirements. It offers aggregate FDIC insurance up to $5 million through a network of program banks partnering with UMB Bank, exceeding the standard $250,000 single-bank FDIC limit. The account can only be opened in the name of a person (individual or joint), not directly in a trust name, but a trust can be named as beneficiary.

Empower offers several tiers of individual investment accounts: Personal Strategy (full-service advisory for $100,000+ minimum, starting at 0.89% fee), Empower Private Client ($1,000,000+ minimum with wealth management, trade costs, and custody included), Empower Premier Managed Account (no minimum, starting at 0.50% fee), Empower Premier IRA (self-directed with no account opening, closure, or commission fees and unlimited 1:1 advisor access), and Empower Brokerage (self-directed DIY trading with 1,000 free online trades annually, $6.95 per trade thereafter). These are available as both taxable investment accounts and IRA accounts. Taxable investment accounts may be retitled to a revocable living trust.

No. Retirement accounts including 401(k), 403(b), 457(b), Traditional IRAs, Roth IRAs, SEP IRAs, and Rollover IRAs cannot be retitled into a trust during the owner's lifetime because doing so would trigger an immediate taxable distribution. Instead, name your revocable trust as the primary or contingent beneficiary on each retirement account. Note that trust beneficiaries on retirement accounts have different required minimum distribution rules under the SECURE Act, so consult a tax advisor before naming a trust as beneficiary.