Many IRA owners set up their account, pick investments, and assume they’re set. But a handful of details deserve a fresh look periodically, especially as year end approaches. Here are several areas that often get overlooked.
Keep Beneficiary Designations Current
Your beneficiary designation form, not your will, controls who inherits your IRA. This matters more than most people realize: even a carefully drafted estate plan won't override an outdated beneficiary form. Certain life events—marriage, divorce, the birth of a child or grandchild, or the death of a named beneficiary—should usually trigger a review. So adding an annual beneficiary check to your calendar makes sense, even if nothing has changed. It takes just a few minutes and confirms that everything is in order.
Keeping your beneficiary form current also lets your IRA pass directly to beneficiaries outside of the probate process, which can be public, slow, and expensive. A properly completed beneficiary form skips probate entirely, meaning your beneficiaries can typically access the funds within weeks rather than months.
One caution is worth addressing. Naming a trust as beneficiary of your IRA can serve legitimate purposes, particularly for special-needs planning, blended families, or creditor protection. But it isn't automatically the best solution for every account or every asset. Trusts add complexity, may accelerate time frames under the beneficiary distribution rules, and can trigger higher trust income tax rates if not drafted carefully. Naming a trust as beneficiary for all of your accounts, as a blanket approach, may create more problems than it solves. Talk with a qualified estate planning attorney before defaulting to that structure.
Consider the Nature of Your Assets
Closely related to who get your assets is this: which assets do they get? Many individuals have both Traditional and Roth IRA assets. And it’s quite common for IRA owners to want charitable organizations to receive a portion of their IRAs. But it doesn’t make sense, for example, to leave Roth after-tax assets to a charity because they are generally not required to pay income tax. So why not leave some of your pre-tax Traditional IRA assets to the charity and reserve the qualified (that is, tax free) Roth IRA assets to those who might otherwise be subject to income tax? This all-too-common oversight can easily be corrected with a bit of proper planning.
Powers of Attorney Can Fill a Need
A financial power of attorney (POA) lets someone you trust step in and manage your IRA and other financial accounts if you cannot do it yourself, whether from illness, injury, or cognitive decline. Without one, your family may need to pursue a court-supervised guardianship or conservatorship to access your accounts, which can be costly and cumbersome.
This becomes more important as we age. A POA that felt unnecessary at 55 can become essential at 75. Most states offer fill-in-the-blank statutory POA forms that are effective and straightforward to complete, so this isn't a document that requires an expensive drafting process in every case. Still, consider having an attorney review the form, confirm that it meets your custodian's requirements, and make sure that it grants the specific powers you intend.
QCDs: A Year-End Option Worth Considering
If you're at least 70½, a qualified charitable distribution (QCD) is worth a look before December 31. With a QCD, IRA assets are sent directly to a qualifying charity, and the amount counts toward your required minimum distribution (RMD) without being included in your taxable income. For 2026, the QCD limit is $111,000 per person, so qualified married couples can exclude up to $222,000 combined.
One detail is often missed: you don't have to be in RMD status yourself to use a QCD. Anyone age 70½ or older is eligible, so a beneficiary who inherited an IRA and is 70½ or older can use a QCD too, even if their own RMD obligations haven't started. However you qualify, beat the year-end deadline by arranging for a QCD now instead of waiting until the last minute.
An Ounce of Prevention . . .
These are just a few of the ways you can get the most out of your IRAs. Consistent contributions and careful selection of alternative investments in your self-directed IRA are important, this is true. But attending to some of the more mundane aspects of your IRAs can make them even more effective—for you and your loved ones. Ask our IRA experts about how you can get more from your retirement savings.