Tax, Retirement, ERISA, Special Accounts and Estate Planning
This topic connects tax fundamentals, retirement plans, ERISA, education and health accounts, ownership methods, trusts, wills, and beneficiaries.
How to study the Series 65
Treat the Series 65 as an adviser competency exam: quantify risk, classify the product, profile the client, then apply fiduciary and registration rules.
Core concepts
Concept 1
Tax-aware recommendations consider capital gains, qualified dividends, basis, brackets, AMT, estate tax, gift tax, trusts, and pass-through entities.
Exam cue: Identify tax treatment before choosing the account or strategy.
Concept 2
Traditional, Roth, Solo 401(k), qualified, nonqualified, 529, Coverdell, UTMA, UGMA, and HSA accounts have different purposes and rules.
Exam cue: Match the retirement or education vehicle to the beneficiary and objective.
Concept 3
Ownership transfer, beneficiary designation, POD/TOD, trusts, wills, QDROs, donor advised funds, and ERISA fiduciary rules affect planning.
Exam cue: For estate planning, name who controls and who benefits.
Risk pitfalls and guardrails
Treating all retirement distributions as tax free.
Guardrail: Avoid answers that skip client profile, risk, disclosure, custody, approval, or fiduciary analysis.
Ignoring beneficiary designations.
Guardrail: Avoid answers that skip client profile, risk, disclosure, custody, approval, or fiduciary analysis.
Confusing UTMA/UGMA control with a parent's unrestricted account.
Guardrail: Avoid answers that skip client profile, risk, disclosure, custody, approval, or fiduciary analysis.
Memory anchors
Tax Basis
Tax basis is generally the amount used to calculate gain or loss.
Capital Gain
Capital gain occurs when a capital asset is sold above basis.
Qualified Dividend
Qualified dividends can receive favorable tax treatment if requirements are met.
Traditional IRA
Traditional IRA tax treatment often centers on deductibility and taxable distributions.
Roth IRA
Roth contributions are after-tax and qualified distributions can be tax free.
529 Plan
A 529 plan is designed for qualified education expenses.
ERISA
ERISA imposes fiduciary and plan standards for covered retirement plans.
TOD
Transfer on death registration transfers assets to named beneficiaries outside probate.
Trust
A trust separates legal control from beneficial ownership.
QDRO
A QDRO divides retirement plan benefits after domestic relations orders.
Checkpoint rule
Do the check-up only after you can summarize each concept in one sentence and identify one dangerous pitfall from memory.
Knowledge Check (after reading)
Short check-up to confirm understanding of this module.
Check-up Questions
An adviser describes a traditional IRA. What is the general tax treatment of a traditional IRA?
An adviser describes a Roth IRA. What is the general tax treatment of a Roth IRA?
Answer all questions to submit.
Next step personalized recommendations
Continue learning
Move forward only after this module is stable.
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