Estate planning doesn’t seem a high priority for younger people. Even people approaching retirement seem more concerned with not outliving their assets. Suppose you looked at it from a different perspective: “What happens if you enter your final years sitting on an enormous pile of wealth? Shouldn’t you (optimistically) plan for this reality?

Why is this important? Every investor embraces the concept of tax deferral. The IRS is OK with the concept “Pay me now or pay me later. ” Most investors would prefer the option, “Pay me now or pay me never! ” The IRS is not happy with that. People engage in estate planning to minimize their future tax liability. The government continually revises the tax laws to close loopholes.

Let us look at five reasons why you might be worth a lot more in the future than you are worth today:

1. Tax deferred retirement plans. Let us assume you are simply putting the maximum $ 7,000 contribution into an IRA account, starting at age 25. Assuming a 7% annual rate of return, your IRA balance at age 65 might be just under $1. 4 million. If you were aggressively invested and earned 10% on average, you balance might be closer to $3. 1 million.

2. Inheritance from Baby Boomers. A Canadian study indicates a disconnect between what Baby Boomers intend to leave as an inheritance for their children ($940,000) vs. what Millennials aged 27 to 42 expect to inherit. ($309,000)1 After allowing for currency conversion, a Millennial age 35 might receive $686,000. Assuming a well off heir could leave that money intact, over 30 years at 7% it might grow to $ 5. 2 million.

3. Real estate appreciation. Let us assume our lucky 30 something owns their own home. It is in a good metro real estate market like New York City, where the average annual appreciation over ten years has been about 6%2 If our 35 year old millennial held onto their property (median price $790,000) until age 65, that property might be worth $4. 5 million. This might sound improbably, but you probably know at least one person who bought a brownstone at $100,000 back in the ‘80’s and is living in a $3 million plus home today.

4. Your investment portfolio. Let us assume our Millennial did not have a lot of money to invest back in the 1990’s but suppose they put $1,000 into Apple stock when it went public in 1980. It might be worth $ 2. 1 million as of this time last year.3 If you found an extra $500 in 1999 when Nvidia went public, that would be worth about $1. 88 million today.4

5. The Antiques Roadshow factor. It might be next to impossible to unearth a true undiscovered treasure today, thanks to the popularity of Antiques Roadshow. However, the guy who inherited a 1914 Patek Phillipe pocket watch passed down through generations in his family, now would be owning something worth $2. 5 million.5

This fanciful list of five examples did not even touch on cryptocurrency, artwork, precious metals, gems and jewelry and other stores of wealth,

Many of these examples are “one offs. ” If they were all totaled up, the value of this 65 year old’s estate might be $ 15+ million. If we assume their spouse was nowhere near as lucky, but did save an equal amount in their IRA account, the combined estate might be $18 million or more. Let us assume they were single and the estate size was $15 million. The estate tax exclusion might be $13. 99 million at the Federal level6 but there are two considerations to remember. Their state of residence might have it’s own set of rules. The Federal government can change their rules over the next 30+ years. Thresholds might go up, but they might get reduced too.

Because you do not know how long you will live and the size estate you might leave, it makes sense to start doing estate planning early, instead of waiting until the last minute.

1. https://www. ipsos. com/en-ca/boomers-inheritance-plans-heir
2. https://www. doorloop. com/blog/the-new-york-city-real-estate-market#:~:text=According%20to%20StreetEasy%2C%20the%20average,rate%20in%20NYC%20is%206. 00%25.
3. https://fortune. com/2024/06/27/how-much-a-1000-investment-in-apple-stock-10-years-ago-would-be-worth-today/
4. https://www. fool. com/investing/2024/10/28/if-you-had-invested-500-in-nvidias-ipo-25-years-ag/
5. https://ew. com/tv/antiques-roadshow-most-valuable/
6. https://www. faegredrinker. com/en/insights/publications/2025/1/2025-estate-tax-exemptions-and-planning-considerations#:~:text=As%20of%20January%201%2C%202025,increase%20of%20%24380%2C000%20per%20person.