Retirement Terms Starting with ‘B’

Balanced Budget: "A situation in financial planning or the budgeting process where total revenues are equal to or greater than total expenses. A budget can be considered balanced in hindsight, after a full year's worth of revenues and expenses have been incurred and recorded; a company's operating budget for an upcoming year can also be called balanced based on predictions or estimates. "

Bank Trust Custodial Account: "A type of Individual Retirement Account (IRA) allowed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) in which contributions are paid into the bank's interest-bearing financial instruments or a self-directed account. The difference between a self-directed account and the bank's interest bearing financial instrument is that the investor is in charge of investment decisions. Self-directed accounts are usually set up by a brokerage and the investor is charged an amount above trading costs."

Bankruptcy Trustee: "A person appointed by the United States Trustee, an officer of the Department of Justice, to represent the debtor's estate in a bankruptcy proceeding. 
Although a bankruptcy judge has the ultimate authority on the distribution of assets, the trustee is charged with evaluating and making recommendations about various debtor demands in accordance with the U.S. Bankruptcy Code."

Bare Trust: "A basic trust in which the beneficiary has the absolute right to the capital and assets within the trust, as well as the income generated from these assets. Bare trusts are widely used by parents and grandparents to transfer assets to their children or grandchildren. Trust assets are held in the name of a trustee, who has the responsibility of managing the trust assets in a prudent manner so as to generate maximum benefit for the beneficiaries. The trustee has no control over these assets and has no say or discretion in directing the trust's income or capital. Also known as a simple trust."

Basis: "1. The variation between the spot price of a deliverable commodity and the relative price of the futures contract for the same actual that has the shortest duration until maturity. 
2. A security's basis is the purchase price after commissions or other expenses. Also known as "cost basis" or "tax basis". 
3. In the context of IRAs, basis is the after-tax balance in the IRA, which originates from nondeductible IRA contributions and rollover of after-tax amounts. Earnings on these amounts are tax-deferred, similar to earnings on deductible contributions and rollover of pretax amounts."

Beneficial Interest: "The right to receive benefits on assets held by another party. Beneficial interest is often referred to in matters concerning trusts. For example, most beneficial interest arrangements are in the form of trusts, whereby one has a vested interest in the trust's assets. The beneficiary receives income from the trust's holdings, but does not own the holdings themselves."

Beneficiary: "Anybody who gains an advantage and/or profits from something. In the financial world, a beneficiary typically refers to someone who is eligible to receive distributions from a trust, will or life insurance policy. Beneficiaries are either named specifically in these documents or they have met the stipulations that make them eligible for whatever distribution is specified."

Beneficiary Clause: "A beneficiary clause is a provision in a life insurance policy or other investment vehicle such as an annuity or IRA that permits the policy owner to name individuals as primary and secondary beneficiaries. The policy owner typically may change the named beneficiaries at any time by following the specifications defined in the policy."

Beneficiary Of Trust: "A beneficiary of trust is a person for whom a trust was created, and who receives the benefits of that trust. In many instances a trust is established to prevent the exhaustion of an estate. A trust for the benefit of a child, for example, may include specifications that would guarantee the parent's estate will not be carelessly diminished and that funds will be available for the benefit of the child."

Benefit Allocation Method: "The benefit allocation method is a means of funding a pension plan where a single premium payment is made in order to fund a single unit of benefit for a specified period of time, typically one year (or other specifies unit of time) of recognized service with the employer. A pension plan is a type of retirement plan where an employer makes contributions to a fund that an employee receives upon retirement."

Benefit Offset: "A reduction in the amount of benefit payments received by a member of a retirement plan which may result when the member owes money to the plan."

Bequest: "The act of giving personal property or money such as stocks, bonds, jewelry and cash left to an individual or organization through the provisions of a will or estate plan. Bequests can be made to family, friends, institutions or charities. When real estate is left through a will, it is correctly called a "devise."

Blackout Period: "1. A term that refers to a temporary period in which access is limited or denied. 
2. A period of around 60 days during which employees of a company with a retirement or investment plan cannot modify their plans. Notice must be given to employees in advance of a pending blackout."

Blind Trust: "A trust in which the executors have full discretion over the assets, and the trust beneficiaries have no knowledge of the holdings of the trust."

Board Certified In Estate Planning (BCE): "A certification offered by the Institute of Business & Finance (IBF) aimed at brokers, advisors and financial planners whose clients are interested in estate accumulation, preservation and distribution (estate planning)."

Brokerage Window: "The ability to direct trading within a brokerage's offering through a retirement plan such as a 401(k). As opposed to being limited to the investment options within a sponsored 401(k), some investors have the option to set up a "window", which allows them to trade most listed stocks, mutual funds and exchange-traded funds. 
May also be known as a "self-directed account" (SDA) or "self-directed brokerage account" (SDBA)."

Bullet GIC: "A type of guaranteed investment contract where a single payment is made to the account and where both the principal and interest are returned to the payor at some date in the future. A bullet GIC, or bullet guaranteed investment contract (BGIC), provides investors with a typically low-risk means of achieving a guaranteed principal repayment, plus interest. These contracts are often offered by insurance companies."

Bypass Trust: "An estate-planning device used to pass down assets after death without subjecting them to the estate tax. A bypass trust is a type of irrevocable trust and is most commonly used to pass assets from parents to children at the time of the second parent's death. It is structured so the children will not have to pay estate taxes on those assets in excess of the current estate tax exemption."