If you still have questions regarding the impact of the SECURE Act on your client’s individual retirement account (IRA) and estate plan, you are not alone. Planning for clients whose largest asset is their IRA was already challenging prior to the passage of the SECURE Act, but with new rules and exceptions to consider, planning for these clients is even more complex. Now more than ever, estate planning attorneys must understand the ins and outs of the SECURE Act and how it affects their clients’ plans.

“Stock prices have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau.”

—Irving Fisher, New York Times, October 16, 1929

We all know what happened on October 24, 1929, just eight days after Professor Fisher’s bullish prediction, when the Wall Street Crash ushered in the Great Depression, ruining the great economist’s reputation. In hindsight, it is easy to spot the irrational exuberance exhibited in the run up to the greatest economic crisis in modern times. However, the fact remains that Professor Fisher was far from the only economist who expressed this opinion.

African American-owned businesses are on the rise: The US Census Bureau estimates that there were 2.5 million Black-owned businesses in 2020. As African Americans pursue economic success through entrepreneurship, they must also consider creating plans to pass their businesses down to the next generation and ensure financial security in the event of incapacitation. There has generally been a lack of focus on generational wealth in the African American community, but information on the importance of planning and encouragement from estate planning attorneys will encourage African American business owners and their families to plan for their futures. It is therefore important to address the common myths that may lead African Americans to believe that an estate plan is unnecessary.