Rainier Wealth Planning

Which is the final word: your beneficiary designations or your will?

It depends... but many times it's your beneficiary designations.

It's one of the most overlooked facts in estate strategies. The beneficiary forms on file for your retirement accounts, insurance policies, and other accounts may be legally binding—and they almost always override whatever your will says.

A former spouse still listed on a retirement account can inherit it. Someone written out of your will entirely can still receive an insurance payout. Assets intended for your children may pass to someone else because a form was never updated.

The good news: a beneficiary review takes minutes. 💙

When did you last review yours?

Note: Louisiana law is different and at times complicated and sometimes beneficiary designations do not apply, especially on payable on death accounts. This is an important fact to review with your financial & estate advisors.

Most couples spend years preparing financially for retirement.

Very few have talked about what retirement will actually look like.

Not the number. The life.

👉 Where will you live?

👉 What will your days look like?

👉 What happens if one of you is ready to stop working and the other is not?

A 2025 Fidelity survey found that 48 percent disagree on the age they prepare to retire. And research from Ameriprise found that nearly two-thirds expect to retire at the same time, while only 11 percent actually do.

The gap between what couples assume and what they have actually discussed is where retirement quietly breaks down.

The good news is that most couples are not as far apart as they fear. They just have not had the conversation yet.

👉 If retirement is somewhere on your horizon, the most valuable thing you can do right now is not check your portfolio... It is to sit down with your partner and start asking the questions you have both been putting off.