28 terms · reviewed August 27, 2026
The words that decide what you keep.
Definitions written to be useful rather than complete. Each one says what the thing is, and then what it does not do, because the gap between those two is where families actually lose money.
- Entries
- 28
- Reviewed
- August 27, 2026
- Cost
- Free, no signup
All of them
Grouped by what they belong to.
Nothing here is behind a click or a form. If your browser’s find-on-page is faster than reading, use that. Every term and definition is on this page.
Estate & probate13 terms
- Probatealso probate court · estate administrationProbate is the court-supervised process of proving a will, settling debts and transferring what a person owned in their own name when they died.
- Willalso last will and testamentA will is a signed legal document directing who receives the property you held in your own name at death, and naming the person who will administer it.
- Revocable trustalso living trust · revocable living trustA revocable trust is an arrangement you create during your lifetime to hold your assets, which you can change or cancel at any time, and which continues to operate without court involvement after you die.
- Irrevocable trustAn irrevocable trust is a trust you cannot freely change or undo once it is created, which is precisely what allows it to do things a revocable trust cannot.
- Trust fundingalso funding a trust · re-titlingTrust funding is the work of actually transferring your accounts and property into the name of your trust, which is what turns a signed trust document into something that has any effect.
- Beneficiary designationalso beneficiary form · payable on deathA beneficiary designation is the instruction held by a financial institution naming who receives that specific account or policy when you die, and it operates independently of your will.
- Titlingalso how an asset is held · ownership registrationTitling is how an asset is legally registered (in one name, jointly, in a trust, or with a beneficiary attached), and it determines what happens to that asset at death or under a claim.
- Executoralso personal representative · administratorAn executor is the person appointed to administer an estate through probate: collecting the assets, paying the debts and taxes, and distributing what remains according to the will.
- Trusteealso successor trusteeA trustee is the person or institution that holds and manages the assets inside a trust, under a legal duty to act in the interests of the trust’s beneficiaries.
- Power of attorneyalso financial power of attorney · durable power of attorney · POAA financial power of attorney is a document authorising someone to act on your behalf in money matters while you are alive, typically continuing to operate if you become unable to act for yourself.
- Health care power of attorneyalso medical power of attorney · health care proxyA health care power of attorney names the person who may make medical decisions for you if you are unable to make or communicate them yourself.
- Living willalso advance directive · advance health care directiveA living will is a written statement of the medical treatment you would and would not want if you were dying or permanently unconscious and could not speak for yourself.
- Step-up in basisalso stepped-up basis · basis adjustment at deathA step-up in basis is the resetting of an inherited asset’s cost basis to its value at the owner’s death, which can eliminate the capital gains tax on all the growth that happened during the owner’s lifetime.
Retirement income6 terms
- Required minimum distributionalso RMD · forced withdrawal · mandatory withdrawalA required minimum distribution is the amount you must withdraw from a tax-deferred retirement account each year once you reach the age set by statute, whether or not you need the money.
- Sequence-of-returns riskalso sequence riskSequence-of-returns risk is the risk that poor investment returns arrive early in retirement rather than later, permanently reducing how long a portfolio lasts even if the average return over the whole period is identical.
- Withdrawal orderalso drawdown sequencing · distribution order · which account firstWithdrawal order is the sequence in which you draw from your taxable, tax-deferred and tax-free accounts in retirement, and it changes how much of your money you keep rather than how much you have.
- Guaranteed income flooralso income floor · essential incomeA guaranteed income floor is the portion of your essential spending covered by income that does not depend on market performance, typically Social Security, a pension, or an annuity.
- Social Security survivor benefitalso survivor benefit · widow’s benefitA Social Security survivor benefit is the payment a widow or widower may receive based on their deceased spouse’s earnings record, generally replacing rather than adding to their own benefit.
- Asset locationalso asset placementAsset location is the decision about which investments to hold in which type of account (taxable, tax-deferred or tax-free), as distinct from asset allocation, which is what you hold overall.
Tax4 terms
- Tax-deferred, tax-free and taxablealso account types · tax buckets · three bucketsRetirement money sits in one of three tax treatments: taxable accounts taxed as they grow, tax-deferred accounts taxed when withdrawn, and tax-free accounts such as Roth taxed neither way.
- Roth conversionalso Roth IRA conversionA Roth conversion is the deliberate act of moving money from a tax-deferred account into a Roth account, paying income tax on the amount converted now so that it and its future growth come out tax-free later.
- Bracket managementalso bracket filling · multi-year tax planningBracket management is deliberately deciding how much taxable income to realize in each year so that income is taxed at the lowest rates available across a whole retirement rather than in any single year.
- IRMAAalso income-related monthly adjustment amount · Medicare premium surchargeIRMAA is a surcharge added to Medicare Part B and Part D premiums for beneficiaries whose income exceeds a set threshold, determined by a tax return from two years earlier.
Protection2 terms
- Long-term care planningalso LTC planning · care planningLong-term care planning is deciding in advance how extended personal or nursing care would be paid for, and what that payment would do to the rest of the household’s finances.
- Asset protectionAsset protection is the use of ownership structure (titling, entities and certain trusts) to limit what a future claim against you could reach, as distinct from insurance, which pays a claim up to a limit.
How advice works3 terms
- FiduciaryA fiduciary is a person or firm legally obliged to act in your interest rather than their own, including disclosing conflicts of interest rather than simply managing them.
- Fee-only vs fee-basedalso how advisors are paid · advisor compensationA fee-only firm is paid solely by its clients, while a fee-based firm charges client fees and may also receive commissions on certain products, typically insurance.
- Family officeA family office is a single team that coordinates every financial discipline for a household (typically law, tax, insurance and investment) rather than specializing in one of them.
About this glossary
Three things worth knowing before you rely on it.
Is this legal or tax advice?
No. These are general definitions of how instruments and rules work, written to be accurate rather than to apply to you. What any of it means for your situation depends on facts a page cannot know, which is what a Clarity Map Session is for.
How current is this?
Every entry was reviewed on August 27, 2026. Tax and estate rules change, sometimes with little notice, so the review date is printed on the page rather than hidden. Check it before relying on anything here, and call the office if a decision turns on it.
Why are there so few numbers?
Because the numbers are the part most likely to be out of date, and a stale threshold is worse than no threshold. Every entry here explains the mechanism instead, which changes far more slowly, and the figures come from the conversation where they can be checked against current law and your actual situation.
When a definition is not enough
Knowing what a term means is not the same as knowing where you stand.
A Clarity Map Session applies all of this to your actual accounts, your actual documents and your actual tax picture. Free, 30 minutes, no obligation.
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