Page 9 - Hobe Sound Reflections - March '20

Hobe Sound, Page 9

Club nEWs

Woman’s Club Hosts Casino the party. There are
no cash prizes but the
Night For Survivors stakes are high – all the
money raised will go
Sometimes life is a gamble. You can be up one minute directly to supporting
and down the next. For survivors of sexual trauma, mental health needs
the down periods can go on pretty long. Luckily, there of survivors of sexual
are organizations working to change the fate of these trauma from the
survivors and support their road to a healthy recovery. community. Tickets
The Inner Truth Project is one such organization. It are on sale at www.
has been selected by the Woman’s Club of Stuart for a innertruthproject.org
new partnership to raise awareness and funds to support or call Patricia at (772)
those who have been victimized. You can help too. 349-1852 for more
On Saturday, April 25 from 7 to 10 p.m., the Woman’s information.
Club of Stuart is transforming its historic clubhouse at
729 East Ocean Blvd., Stuart, into an exciting “Roaring Photo by Sharon Mason Ready to try their luck April 25 are the Woman’s Club of Stuart’s Roaring 2020s casino night
2020” casino for a night of celebration, friends and a roll committee members. Front row, left to right, Joanne Greenfield; Mindi Fetterman, director of
of the dice. the Inner Truth Project; Lois Parker, Shauna Ihle, and Gail Rice. Back row: Cecilia Lewis, Starr
Tickets are $75 a person and include heavy hors Lorenzi, Jo Baxter, Patricia Bushman, Mona Salisbury, Marie Jureit-Beamish, Carmen Blumenthal,
d’oeuvres, drink ticket and starter chips to start Lynda Snyder and Kathryn Schmidt.

Track Elusive Ancestors and a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Northern Illinois lEgal talk
master’s degree in English from the University of Michigan
Across Borders With The University, she has extensive experience teaching research,

Martin County Genealogical analysis and writing at the college level. Lyttle’s genealogy
education includes courses at major genealogical institutes
Society and the ProGen Study Group. She currently serves on the How SECURE Is Your IRA
board of the Association of Professional Genealogists. Planning?
Until the late 19th century, thousands of Americans and In addition to its monthly meetings – where local and
Canadians lived unrestricted cross-border lives without visas, national experts speak about how to explore ancestry – the By Ryan Abernethy
work permits, passports or immigration records. At the Martin society offers a variety of services at the Genealogy Room You may have heard
County Genealogical Society’s March meeting, professional in the Blake Library including an extensive research library of the “SECURE Act”
genealogist Annette Burke Lyttle will address challenges and free online access to Ancestry, American Ancestors (New and how this recently-
presented by this lack of records and share research methods England Historical Society) and Fold3 (military records). enacted legislation has
to track down these elusive ancestors. Free and open to the The newest benefit for members is a discount on Vivid-Pix changed retirement
public, the meeting is 1 to 3 p.m., Friday, March 20, at the Restore digital software that enables easy restoration of planning.
Robert Morgade Library, 5851 S.E. Community Drive in faded photos, newspaper articles and documents. For more This new law has
Stuart. Light refreshments will be served. information about membership, activities and services go many benefits, including
A fulltime genealogist and family historian since 2012, to mcgsfl.org, visit the Genealogy Room which is manned allowing retirement plan
Lyttle owns Heritage Detective, LLC offering a variety of by member volunteers all year long or call Lisa Tompson, owners to refrain from
services to help amateur genealogists trace their roots. With a MCGS president, (772) 888-2422. withdrawing required
minimum distributions (RMDs) from their IRA and
401(k) accounts until they have reached age 72 (as
opposed to age 70½) and allowing plan owners to
continue to make contributions to retirement plans
after age 70½ so long as they continue to work.
While offering benefit to many, the SECURE Act
has changes that will significantly affect others.
For instance, the SECURE Act almost entirely
eliminates the opportunity for those who inherit an
interest in a retirement plan at the retirement plan
owner’s death (designated beneficiary) to “stretch”
annual RMDs from the inherited retirement plans interest
over that designated beneficiary’s remaining lifetime.
The benefit of the “stretch” was that a designated
beneficiary’s income tax liability associated with
distributions from an inherited retirement account
could be spread (or “stretched”) over that designated
beneficiary’s lifetime if the designated beneficiary
only withdrew annual RMD amounts from their
inherited retirement account, or if he or she named a
special trust as beneficiary of a retirement account,
with the trust distributing RMDs amounts directly to
the trust’s beneficiary annually (while simultaneously
controlling the beneficiary’s ability to withdraw
greater amounts from the account).
Under these approaches, income tax would only be
paid on amounts actually distributed to the beneficiary
(typically, just the RMD amount), with the remaining
account funds continuing to grow tax-free as part of
the inherited retirement plan.
Under the SECURE Act, this income tax deferral
opportunity has been eliminated for most designated
beneficiaries. Now, with several very limited
exceptions, a designated beneficiary must receive
distributions from an inherited retirement plan interest
over a maximum 10-year period.
Individuals who plan to have retirement plan assets
pass in trust to their beneficiaries (whether a spouse,
child or otherwise) and have those assets managed
for that beneficiary outside of the beneficiary’s direct
control, may need to make changes.
If you’re worried about how these changes affect
how your retirement plan assets will pass to your
beneficiaries, it is critical that you contact a qualified
estate planning attorney to discuss what changes – if
any – need to be made to your planning.