Secure Act 2.0: What’s Working and What’s Not
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When Congress passed the SECURE 2.0 Act at the end of 2022, it promised to modernize retirement savings and make life a little easier for both savers and those inheriting retirement accounts. Now that we’ve had all of 2024 and most of 2025 living with the changes, we can see which parts have delivered and which still leave people scratching their heads.
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What’s Working
1. Later Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs).
For years, retirees had to begin taking money out of their IRAs and other retirement accounts at age 70½, then 72. Secure 2.0 raised the starting age to 73, with another bump to 75 scheduled in 2033. This gives many retirees extra time to let their accounts grow tax-deferred and more flexibility in planning withdrawals.
2. Bigger Catch-Up Contributions.
Older workers can now put more into retirement plans. For 2025 and beyond, individuals ages 60–63 will be able to contribute even more in catch-up amounts to their employer plans. This is especially helpful for people who may have had gaps in saving earlier in life, and are trying to catch-up now.
3. Employer Matching on Student Loan Payments.
A subtle but welcome change: if you’re paying down student loans instead of contributing to your workplace plan, your employer can now match your loan payments as if you had made a retirement contribution. This helps younger savers get started on long-term investing sooner.
What’s Not Working (Yet)
1. Complexity in Beneficiary Rules.
This is arguably the rule that affects the most people. The original SECURE Act (2019) eliminated the “lifetime stretch” for most non-spouse beneficiaries of inherited IRAs, replacing it with a 10-year payout rule. Secure 2.0 didn’t really fix the confusion about how those rules apply. The IRS has issued proposed regulations, but guidance has changed several times, and many families remain unsure about required annual withdrawals during the 10-year period. There is also a lot of confusion about how certain trusts are treated when they are named beneficiary of a retirement plan.
2. Roth Catch-Up Contribution Hiccups.
The law requires higher-income employees to make their catch-up contributions to Roth accounts rather than pre-tax accounts. But implementing this has proved tricky for many employers and plan administrators, leading to delays and extra paperwork.
3. Missed Opportunities for Coordination.
Secure 2.0 created new planning options, but many people haven’t revisited their broader estate plans to take advantage of them. For example, raising the RMD age affects when retirees should consider Roth conversions, charitable giving from IRAs, or the timing of distributions that could support their heirs or favorite causes. It may also affect Medicaid planning in certain states, depending on whether the state exempts or counts retirement plans when determining Medicaid eligibility.
Practical Takeaways
- Review Your Beneficiary Designations. Make sure the right people (or trusts) are named, especially if your plan was built on old stretch IRA rules.
- Revisit Your Withdrawal Strategy. The later RMD age may open a window for strategic Roth conversions or charitable gifts that reduce future tax burdens or accelerate Medicaid eligibility.
- Coordinate with Your Estate Plan. Inherited retirement accounts now behave differently than they did a few years ago. Trusts used as beneficiaries may need to be reviewed to ensure they still work as intended.
- Ask About Employer Changes. If you’re still working, confirm how your workplace plan is handling Roth contributions and student loan matching.
Secure 2.0 has delivered some genuine benefits, particularly for people approaching retirement and for younger workers burdened by student loans. But it has also added layers of complexity to an already challenging area of planning. As we enter 2026 with more IRS guidance on the horizon, it’s worth setting aside time to make sure your retirement accounts, tax strategies, and estate plan are all working in harmony.
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If you haven’t reviewed your retirement and estate plan recently, or if you inherited an IRA in the last few years, now is an excellent time to review with an estate planning professional. A little attention today can help avoid headaches (and unnecessary taxes) down the road.
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Planning for the Disposition of Your Remains
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Every October, we’re surrounded by reminders of our own mortality - skeletons on porches, haunted house tours, and ghost stories galore. It’s a good-natured bit of seasonal fun. But for families who’ve lost a loved one, there’s nothing spooky about the confusion and conflict that can arise when no one knows what that person wanted for their final arrangements.
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One of the most overlooked areas of estate planning is a disposition of remains. This is your instructions for what should happen to your body after death. It may not be as exciting as creating a trust or choosing guardians for children, but it is an important aspect of your plan.
In many states, the law sets out a priority list of who can make decisions about the disposition of remains: typically a spouse, then adult children, then parents, and so on. Without clear directions, disagreements among family members can delay funeral or cremation arrangements and deepen grief, or cause rifts within a family.
Providing written instructions removes that burden. Instead of asking “What would Mom have wanted?” your loved ones can focus on supporting one another and knowing that Mom’s final wishes are being honored.
So how do we put our wishes into writing? The best way to do this is through a Disposition of Remains document. This is a legally recognized document in many states, that lets you spell out preferences and details about your memorial or ceremony. You can include instructions about the disposition of your body like burial, cremation, or a more modern route, whether you want religious services or a party at your favorite bar, and even details about music and memorial donations.
Some health care directives might also include language about disposition of remains. This document can outline end-of-life medical decisions, as well as some post-death arrangements such as regarding organ donation or donating your body to science. Anything related to the services or what happens after you die should be kept in a different document, whenever possible.
It is also common to include funeral instructions in a Will. It’s better than nothing, but not the most reliable option, since the Will is often not reviewed until final arrangements are done and over with. A stand-alone declaration often works better.
Lastly, a letter of instruction – while not legally binding on its own – may serve as a helpful companion to legal documents, especially for sharing personal preferences about readings, music, or how you would like to be remembered. This is more informal, and merely a statement of your wishes.
Halloween may seem like an odd time to bring up these topics, but it can actually be an opportunity. The season naturally sparks thoughts of mortality, and a lighthearted moment at a family gathering can open the door to a serious but necessary discussion.
You don’t need to decide everything at once. Start with the basics: burial or cremation, any religious traditions that matter to you, and work on writing them down in a valid document. From there, you can refine details over time. Making clear plans for the disposition of your remains is an act of kindness. It relieves your loved ones of guesswork at a painful moment and helps ensure your wishes are honored.
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If you haven’t documented your final-arrangements preferences, consider this Halloween a friendly nudge from the ghosts and goblins at your door: it’s time to get your estate plan in order, from your will and powers of attorney to your final disposition instructions.
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