You’ve worked hard to build your retirement savings over your career with the expectation that you’ve been preparing for a long and comfortable retirement. Sadly, not everyone lives long enough to enjoy the fruits of these labors. While a healthy lifestyle may reduce your chances of passing prematurely, we all know that our life expectancy is unknowable. So what happens to your retirement savings if you don’t live long enough to spend them yourself? Simply put, they pass to your heirs and become available for them to spend. To whom these funds pass is determined in many cases by beneficiary designations.