5 Billionaires Who “Skated” On Death Tax - Bargaineering

5 Billionaires Who “Skated” On Death Tax

Posted: 04 Jan 2011 09:01 AM PST

Anyone else find this slideshow distasteful?

The estate tax had a one year reprieve this year and anyone who passed an estate, i.e. died, would not have to pay the estate tax. Fortune tallied up how much money five estates “saved” when their billionaire died. The billionaires were Dan Duncan ($10 billion), John Kluge ($7.5 billion), Mary Janet Cargill ($2.5 billion), Walter Shorenstein ($1 billion), and, most probably famously, George Steinbrenner ($1 billion). It’s a loss of revenue of around $9.9 billion.

In case you’re wondering, $9.9 billion is fraction of a fraction of the national debt, which stands at over 13.8 trillion.

The distasteful part is that those five people had families who lost someone. While some of them might be celebrating the fact that they inherited more because the estate tax took a nap, but that doesn’t mean we should be counting the tax revenue we didn’t collect.

When you think about it, it’s a sad commentary on what we’ve become.

5 Billionaires Who “Skated” On Death Tax from personal finance blog Bargaineering.com.

Buying Your Father’s Term Life Insurance Policy

Posted: 04 Jan 2011 04:06 AM PST

Over the holidays, Reader John emailed me a question about secondary sales of life insurance policies. He had learned that his father was going to cancel his term-life insurance policy at the end of the month and he was considering “buying” it off his father by paying the premiums and collecting the death benefit. We didn’t get into the numbers but he said that the premium was increasing over the next three years, until his father hits 65, and then the value is cut in half. He ran the numbers and believes there’s a 5% annual return if he passes within 28 years (by age 91). He wanted to know if I thought this was a good idea.

It’s always tricky when it comes to family and money and it’s especially tricky if it involves death, family and money. All of the problems I see with this plan have to do with relationships and navigating those issues are going to prove more challenging than navigating the financial aspects of this idea.

The Investment

A 5% annual return over the next 28 years is good compared to the alternatives available right now. You can’t get a 28 year certificate of deposit but the yield on a thirty year Treasury today is around 4.40%. A 5% annual return is 13.6% increase over the safest of safe investments. It’s less than what you’d get in the stock market but it’s far safer.

I don’t know how John calculated the 5% return. I don’t know if he calculated it based on the premiums, whether he accounted for present value, or any of the other stuff that a true apples to apples comparison would consider. Ultimately, I believe the decision isn’t about money and more about the “other stuff” so I think this comparison is good enough.

The last few years have seen a boom in secondary sales of life insurance policies, where investors buy life insurance policies from individuals who are looking to cash out today. If investors can buy life insurance, that is to say they are paying someone for the right to make their premium payments, then certainly John should be able to generate a positive return if he can get a life insurance police for “free.”

The Other Stuff

In my brief emails with John, it’s obvious he’s able to separate the emotional from the financial. That may not be the case for his siblings. While he’ll probably discuss it with them all, when it comes down to the actual financial transaction (when his father passes), things may not be so easily resolved. Death is almost always a very emotional time and things decided, and documented, when the sky is sunny may not be so easily remembered when the clouds roll in. (John foresees this though, saying “Some potential issues that I foresee are disputes by my siblings at the time of payout and the claim that my mother would have on the benefit if she were still living at the time. Everyone seems onboard with the agreement today, although a couple decades may change their opinions.”)

There’s also the less significant issue of pitting your financial interests against your social interests. When an investor buys a policy, hopefully he isn’t sitting around hoping that the policy’s former owner dies. Even if he is, it doesn’t matter. If John sits around hoping he’ll die, that’s not very healthy. That said, it’s clear that John doesn’t feel this way but it could become an issue.

Here’s where you guys come in. John was curious whether you guys thought it was a good idea and whether it was worth causing potential drama between his siblings later on?

Buying Your Father’s Term Life Insurance Policy from personal finance blog Bargaineering.com.