You might not have thought much about beneficiary designations when you first started your job, especially if you were young and single. You may have named your parents as the beneficiaries of your retirement plan or not designated a beneficiary at all. But if your life has changed and you haven't updated your beneficiaries, your retirement accounts or life insurance proceeds may not go to the people you expect. Those accounts will pass to designated beneficiaries, regardless of what your will says. It's important to review your beneficiary designations every year to make sure they still reflect your wishes, and update your beneficiaries whenever you have life changes — such as if you get married or divorced.

To review who you have named as beneficiaries of your MissionSquare Retirement accounts, log in at www.icmarc.org/login, select the My Account tab, and the My Profile and Beneficiaries menu options. If your plan permits online changes, click the Update Beneficiaries button to specify the percent of the account each beneficiary is to inherit, the person's relation to you, and his or her Social Security number and birth date. After making the changes, hit Submit, and then look for the confirmation screen to verify that the changes have been transmitted to MissionSquare Retirement.