Unruh Turner Burke & Frees Market Share Analysis for November 2025

A “beneficiary” is a person or legal entity you have chosen to receive the value of an estate, trust, retirement plans, or insurance policies.  There are two basic types of beneficiaries. The first is a primary beneficiary. A primary beneficiary is the first person or entity to receive proceeds from an estate. If there is more than one person or entity listed as a primary beneficiary the profits will be divided equally or according to the percentages you selected. The second type of beneficiary is a contingent beneficiary. If there were no living primary beneficiaries, a contingent or secondary beneficiary would then receive the remaining assets of an estate. If there are no contingent beneficiaries, be sure to ask how the funds  will be distributed. In the case of an IRA, 401(k), or other retirement accounts, having them default to a will or estate might be desirable. So spend  some time thinking about your beneficiaries and consider the following information.  Before designating a beneficiary it is important to know who can be named. Some examples of who can be designated as a beneficiary are, spouses, parents, children (who are over the age of 18), trusts, estates, friends, charities, organizations, churches, or even universities. When you do name a beneficiary be specific as possible to try and eliminate any question regarding the identity of a particular beneficiary.   Once beneficiaries of your insurance and other accounts have been designated, it is important to keep the designations up to date. If there are changes to estate planning documents, retirement plans, or insurance policies beneficiary changes might also be necessary. This typically happens when major life changes happen such as marriage, divorce, death, retirement, major financial changes, and/or changes in estate tax or laws. It is therefore important to review these designations AND how they work with your will, trust, and estate planning documents on a reg