Alpha Dog Advisors

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

Your beneficiary designations. In almost every circumstance, it’s 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 are 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.

This applies across the board—even to payable-on-death bank accounts. 📋

The good news: a beneficiary review takes minutes. 💙

When did you last review yours?

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.

Explore how inflation has affected purchasing power over the decades with this historical tool.

Historical Inflation See how the purchasing power of a dollar has changed over time due to inflation.

Dividend yield tells you how much income a holding generates relative to its price. Use this tool to calculate yield and see what it could mean for your portfolio.

What Is the Dividend Yield? Calculate the dividend yield of a holding and see what that means for income over time.

There's a version of your father you didn't know. The one who existed before you came along. Before the responsibility. Before the sacrifices, you may not have fully understood until you were older.

Most of us only piece that together with time.

What fathers leave behind isn't just memories. It's a way of moving through the world.

A standard.

A sense of what it looks like to take care of the people who depend on you.

That's worth honoring. 👔

Happy Father's Day weekend to every father and father figure out there.

Estate Planning and Tax Planning: Why They Must Work Together
Think estate planning is just about wills? 🏡💡 Coordinating it with tax planning can save your heirs from hefty tax bills! Discover smart strategies for inherited IRAs, Roth conversions, and more. Are your plans tax-smart?
https://www.vusocial.com/agent-news/eduard-hamamjian/1579504-Estate-Planning-and-Tax-Planning%3A-Why-They-Must-Work-Togethe