The SECURE Act was enacted into law. It is effective on January 1, 2020. The Act makes significant changes to the existing landscape of retirement accounts. Some points to keep in mind are:

• The age at which retirees must take their Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) has been raised from 70 ½ to 72.

• Participants can now make contributions to their retirement accounts as long as they are otherwise eligible. The Act abolishes the previous age-based cap (70 ½ years).

• Beneficiaries who inherit a retirement account after the death of the participant will no longer be eligible to “stretch” the distribution of the account over their own life expectancy. Instead, beneficiaries will be required to take out the full amount of the plan within 10 years of the participant’s death. However, there are carve-outs for certain classes of beneficiary, namely the surviving spouse, disabled or chronically ill individuals, individuals who are not more than 10 years younger than the deceased participant, or a child of a deceased participant who has not reached the age of majority. These classes of individuals may still “stretch” the benefit over their own life expectancy.