Site Help

Manage Beneficiaries

Designating your account beneficiaries is an important part of your financial planning. Make sure your legacy is directed as you choose by managing your beneficiaries for your American Century Investments® accounts.

Why it's important to keep your beneficiaries up-to-date

  • Older designations often contain outdated or incomplete information, making it difficult to distribute assets in a timely manner.
  • Even if you have a will or trust, you must provide your designation directly to us. That designation will determine how your assets are distributed.
  • Mutual Funds
  • Workplace Plans
  • Brokerage

Individual Retirement Accounts

Manage beneficiaries for your retirement accounts securely online*. Retirement accounts include Traditional IRA, Rollover IRA, Roth IRA, Roth Conversion IRA, Minor IRA, and Minor Roth IRA.

Follow these step-by-step directions below:

  1. Log In with the User Name and Password registered to the individual retirement account.
  2. Select My Profile.
  3. Select Beneficiaries under Account Management.

*Naming a trust as a beneficiary: If you would like to add a new or modify an existing trust or other entity as a beneficiary, please complete the Designation of Beneficiary  form and return accompanied with any additional documentation, as indicated in the form. Naming a trust as a beneficiary can be completed online for Workplace Retirement Accounts. Generally, an entity has a separate identifiable existence that is created for legal or tax purposes. Examples of entities include a trust, charity, your estate, endowment, partnership, corporation, etc.

Taxable Mutual Fund Accounts

Please review the Transfer on Death Rules  and download a Transfer on Death (TOD) Agreement .

Taxable accounts are accounts that are reportable to the IRS on an annual basis, meaning you are taxed on any:

  • dividends and capital gains distributed by the fund each year-the tax rate varies depending on the type of income distributed and your tax bracket
  • capital gains when you sell shares or exchange them for another fund-the tax rate varies depending on how long you owned the shares and your tax bracket

Make sure your legacy is directed as you choose by managing your beneficiaries for your American Century Investments® accounts.

Workplace Retirement Plan Accounts

Manage beneficiaries for your workplace retirement accounts securely online. Workplace retirement accounts include 403(b) Plan, 457(b) Plan, SEP IRA, SIMPLE IRA and SARSEP Plan.

  1. Log In with your User Name and Password.
  2. Select Account Access or Account Summary.
  3. Select Access Retirement Account from the Account Summary tab.
  4. Select Change Profile in the right margin.
  5. Select the Beneficiaries tab.
  6. Review beneficiary information, or select +Add/Update and follow the prompts.

Online beneficiary management is not available for Brokerage accounts. To update your beneficiaries, please download and submit the Brokerage Designation of Beneficiary  form.

Explore More