How a Gift to Charity Left My Client's Family $1.4 Million Ahead

"You want me to give away a million dollars? And I will still end up with more than a million dollars? Is this for real or are you messing with me?"

That was my client in December 2020, hearing about a grantor charitable lead annuity trust for the first time. This week in The Secret Art of Planning, my weekly tax planning newsletter, I walk through exactly how his gift led to over $1.4 million in after-tax proceeds - and I check in on how the structure is doing five and a half years later. The short version: he was smiling when he learned about the strategy and he is still smiling today.

Our family offices team - co-led by Jeffrey Rosen, CPA, CGMA, MBA at Frazier & Deeter is gearing up for year-end planning right now, and these are the strategies we use every day. Follow me for a new issue every week.

We model these exact structures at Mobena- the only tax planning software built for complex families - so families can see the whole 20 years on real tax returns before they sign anything. @mobena