I can't recall the details (it was several years ago), but I remember calling and talking to a rep about what I wanted to do. He said I can do it, but need to send the instructions by letter as the website was not capable of handling all possible situations. Bottom line, just because the website interface won't let you set things up the way you want does not mean that it is not possible.Are you saying that Vanguard won't let you mix charities and people as beneficiaries? Or they don't allow you to list beneficiaries differently on IRAs of the same kind? All you would have to do is enter primary beneficiaries as:I wanted to have two primary beneficiaries (50/50) on one of my retirement accounts. One beneficiary is a charitable organization. For secondary I wanted 100% to go to the charity, but the website would not let me do that. I had to send Vanguard a letter to have that change made.
<charity> 50%
<living person> 50%
I suppose that is due to the screen layouts being different for charities and people. For people you need to specify a birthdate and an optional "per stirpes" when those don't apply to charities.
There is no need to list secondary beneficiaries in this case since if one of these doesn't exist at the time you die, the other will automatically get all 100%.
The only problem here is that if both cease to exist before you die, then it is the same as if no beneficiaries were specified.
Statistics: Posted by GerryL — Fri Feb 16, 2024 1:51 pm — Replies 25 — Views 2133