The SECURE Act—starting in 2020— killed the stretch IRA for most heirs. Until that legislation, an heir could generally have required minimum distributions stretched over his or her life expectancy. And that minimized taxes—plus; the assets in the heir’s IRA grew tax-free until withdrawn.

Why is it called the SECURE Act? Simple, it’s “Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement” Act (effective Jan. 1, 2020). The U.S. Bureau of Acronyms must have worked overtime to come up with this beauty.