1.  The annual gift tax exemption is $14,000 per person. Which means every individual can gift $14,000 to as many people as they desire without having to file ANY gift tax returns.

Perfect time to fund (gift) an irrevocable life insurance trust and leverage the estate by removing assets and purchasing life insurance within the ILIT.

2.  Stock Concentration Diversification. If wealth transfer is a client goal, it might be a good time to sell a portion of a stock investment portfolio at capital gains rates and purchase life insurance as an asset.

Take the after tax proceeds from the stock sale and purchase a single premium survivorship life insurance policy. Compare the internal rate of return on the policy death benefit to the stock portfolio IRR at life expectancy. See number one above to really leverage the estate.

3.  A charitable remainder trust is an excellent planning tool to help clients avoid paying taxes on a highly appreciated asset. An asset transferred (gifted) to a CRT and sold avoids capital gains tax. The clients can then take an income from the trust assets for life, given a certain percentage of the corpus is left to a named charity at death. 

Use the after tax income from the trust to purchase life insurance in a wealth replacement trust for the heirs. The life insurance replaces the asset gifted to the trust. A win-win as an asset is removed from the estate, potentially avoiding estate taxes. The life insurance in the WRT replaces that gifted asset for the heirs with the added benefit of having the death benefit proceeds outside of the estate and hence avoiding any potential estate tax. See number one above.

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