ACH:  Well  since my point is fact, I decline your compromise.  If I choose to save my money to pass it on to my heirs I should be allowed to do that without penalty. Afterall I have already paid taxes on those monies that I chose to save or invest excepting traditional IRA's and 401's.  There may be room for compromise when they are cashed in, not past on, cashed in.  Remember IRA's and 401's were developed to facilitate savings but now that we have done that we get penalized, seems kinda like Charlie Brown and Lucy!  Put another way my mother did not scrimp and save her whole life to give money (that she already paid taxes on) to the government.