Securing Your Future: A Guide to Designating and Updating Your Beneficiaries

Sept. 24, 2024
Eileen Lawless, MSW
Wooden tiles that spell out beneficiary

The changing seasons remind us of events, people, and emotions of past experiences and plans.  Let autumn serve as an opportunity to pause and plan to secure what is important to you.  One small but mighty future plan is to assure or update your beneficiaries with your university retirement and life insurance benefits.  We do everything possible to care for our loved ones and ourselves. The research looks at the incredible advances of healthy aging and longevity, but life is unpredictable, and death comes to us all.  Perhaps this season’s reflections include caregiving for long-term illness or the death of someone you know or are close with.   Maybe you have been blessed with good health but want to take preventative steps and plan for the worst- and best-case scenarios. Unless you have a crystal ball that can tell you your future, a time machine, or a magic wand that guarantees eternal life, ensuring that your benefits are distributed according to your wishes can be a great way to secure what is important to you in life and death. 

Before you respond “yes, but…”, consider the following: 

  • A beneficiary is a person or “entity” (like a not-for-profit) that receives your benefits if something should happen to you. 
  • Choosing a beneficiary will ensure that the person you designate receives your benefits as you wish. 
  • Designating a beneficiary provides peace of mind for you, your family, and community organizations.
  •  Although not mandatory, not designating a beneficiary can make things stressful, emotional, and complicated. Processes to determine who will receive your benefits and court proceedings like probate will create stressful delays and may not go according to your wishes. 
  • Do you already have your beneficiaries designated? Awesome! With life's unpredictable changes in relationships (much like the seasons), is there any possibility you may need to update them? Consider the 6 D’s: divorce, death, diagnosis, decline, disaster, or decade. 

Designating (or updating) your beneficiary is much easier than you think.  Consider a few simple steps: 

Step 1: Talk about who or what will be your beneficiary. 

These conversations require you to talk with those important in your life.  Having a good conversation with yourself is also essential.  Personal reflection will determine who or what will receive your benefits and may also lead to other considerations like estate planning or medical advance directives. 

Step 2: Learn more about your university retirement and life insurance benefits. 

Did you know you can schedule a complimentary appointment with Fidelity Investments or TIAA to review your questions and confirm your wishes? You can also meet with CAPTRUST, an unbiased fiduciary, for help with retirement, savings, and much more. 

Step 3: Designate or update your university beneficiary!

Through UAccess, you can designate or update your university beneficiaries anytime and as often as you need. This coming Open Enrollment (October 28 – November 15, 2024) may also be an excellent opportunity to consider or revisit your beneficiary. 

Confirm, Add, or Update Your Beneficiaries for These Plans Through UAccess.

  • Securian Basic Life
  • Securian Supplemental Life
  • The Hartford - Supplemental Life
  • Unum - Life Insurance with Short-Term Disability

Confirm, Add, or Update Your Beneficiaries for These Plans Directly Through the Vendor.

  • ASRS Retirement Plan
  • Fidelity - ORP, 403b
  • TIAA - ORP, 403b
  • Nationwide 457

Important Note: While the HR Solutions team can assist with questions about University benefits, speak directly with your vendors about designating or updating your beneficiary on your life, investment, and retirement accounts. 

Whether we reflect on the past or look to the future, there is no time like the present to honor our wishes.  While we check warranties for those time machines, this season's events (like Open Enrollment) can offer the opportunity for conversations, updating, or designating your beneficiaries. It’s easier than you think! So, take fifteen minutes to plan for when you’re gone, and then get back to living!