A trust that can't be modified or terminated without the permission of the beneficiary. The grantor, having transferred assets into the trust, effectively removes all of his or her rights of ownership to the assets and the trust.This is the opposite of a "revocable trust", which allows the grantor to modify the trust. The main reason for setting up an irrevocable trust is for estate and tax considerations. The benefit of this type of trust for estate assets is that it removes all incidents of ownership, effectively removing the trust's assets from the grantor's taxable estate. The grantor is also relieved of the tax liability on the income generated by the assets. While the tax rules will vary between jurisdictions, in most cases, the grantor can't receive these benefits if he or she is the trustee of the trust. The assets held in the trust can include, but are not limited to, a business, investment assets, cash and life insurance policies.
An increasingly popular investment strategy that attempts to time future assets sales and income streams to match against expected future expenses. The strategy has become widely embraced among pension fund managers, who attempt to minimize a portfolio's liquidation risk by ensuring asset sales, interest and dividend payments correspond with expected payments to pension recipients. This stands in contrast to simpler strategies that attempt to maximize return without regard to withdrawal timing. Liability matching is growing in popularity among sophisticated financial advisers and wealthy individual clients, who are using multiple growth and withdrawal scenarios to ensure that adequate cash will be available when needed. The use of the Monte Carlo method of analysis, which uses a computer program to average the results of thousands of possible scenarios, has grown in its popularity as a time saving tool used to simplify a liability matching strategy.
A one-time payment for the entire amount due, rather than breaking payments into smaller installments. Some lump-sum distributions receive special tax treatment. A commission check or a pension plan distribution because of the pensioner''s death are two examples of lump-sum distributions. In general, distributions from qualified plans are treated as lump sum, if the following requirements are met: 1. The total plan balance is distributed over the same tax year. 2. The distribution is made as a result of the employee:- attaining age 59.5 - being deceased (applicable to beneficiaries)- separating from service (not applicable to self-employed individuals - but applies to their common-law employees) or - being disabled (applicable only to self-employed individuals). 3. The distribution occurs after five years of participation (this requirements is waived for beneficiaries).
A type of registered retirement savings alternative that locks in the pension funds in investments. While the funds are locked in, they are unavailable for cash-out. Pension funds that are transferred to a LIRA are used to purchase a life annuity, transferred to a life income fund (LIF) or to a locked-in retirement income fund (LRIF). Upon reaching the retirement age, the life annuity, LIF and/or LRIF provide a pension for life. The locked-in retirement account is designed to hold pension funds for a former plan member, former spouse or common-law partner or a surviving spouse or partner. The LIRA may be elected at any age to hold funds transferred from a pension plan upon the termination of membership in a pension plan; the disintegration of a marriage or common-law partnership; or death before retirement. Unlike RRSPs, which can be cashed in whenever the owner decides, a locked-in retirement account does not provide such an option.
A situation where an investor is unwilling or unable to exit a position because of the regulations, taxes or penalties associated with doing so. This may be an investment vehicle, such as a retirement plan, which can not be accessed until a specified retirement date. If there is an increase in value of stocks held by an individual they will be subject to a capital gains tax (with some exceptions). To reduce their tax burden, an investor could shelter these gains in a defined retirement account. The individual is considered locked in because if a portion of this investment is withdrawn prior to maturity the owner will be taxed at a higher rate than if they waited.
An annuitization-method option with which the annuitant chooses to receive regular income payments that are guaranteed to last the rest of his or her life but also guarantees income payments for a minimum number of years (the term) following the start of the annuitization period - even if the annuitant dies before the end of the term. This annuitization-method option guarantees you a lifelong retirement income but also removes the risk associated with an early death, in which case you would lose the value of your contributions to the annuity account. However, compared to the annuitants who have the standard life option (without guaranteed term coverage), annuitants who choose this option generally receive smaller income payments as a price paid for the added safety.
The selling of one's life insurance policy to a third party for a one time cash payment. The purchaser then becomes the beneficiary of the policy and begins paying the premiums. Typically the purchaser is an experienced institutional investor, and policies will have face amounts in excess of $250,000.A life settlement is similar to a "viatical settlement". Life settlements are usually only done when the insured person doesn't have a known life-threatening illness. They are often done with "key individual" insurance policies held by companies on executives who no longer work there; the company has a chance to cash out on a policy that was previously illiquid.Sometimes people outgrow their need for a specific life insurance policy, and a life settlement may offer the chance to gain more than the policy's cash surrender value.
An annuitization-method option for a typical annuity offered by an insurance company with which the annuitant chooses to receive regular income payments from his or her annuity account for life. The insurance company guarantees that the annuitant will receive payments for the rest of his or her life, and structures the payment amounts to provide room for the insurance company's profit margin. With this type of annuitization-method option, the annuitant is essentially converting the lump- sum value of his or her annuity account into a guaranteed income, thus removing the risk that his or her retirement savings will run out before death. In this way, the primary benefit of the life option is peace of mind. However, should the annuitant die relatively soon after starting to receive funds, he or she will not receive the full value of his or her savings (the insurance company gets to keep what's left over).