Want to Benefit From Stock Market Volatility? Tweak Your Trust., Barron’s

Barron’s quoted partner Sara Wells in an article discussing how taxpayers can use asset-swapping strategies in irrevocable grantor trusts to maximize stock market volatility and manage estate and capital gains tax exposure.

The article explores how market downturns can create opportunities to transfer appreciating assets out of a taxable estate while preserving future upside in trust structures. Sara noted that declining asset values may allow individuals to maximize use of the current estate tax exemption by transferring assets at temporarily reduced valuations. “If they’ve gone down in value, get them and their future appreciation out of your estate,” Sara said. Discussing how swaps can preserve future appreciation potential while minimizing transfer tax costs, Sara added, “You can take that $500,000 of stock and swap it for $500,000 in cash in a trust. Later that $500,000 may rise back to $1 million or more but you only used up $500,000 of your estate tax exemption to gift it to your trust.”

Read the full Barron’s article >>
Subscription may be required.