Giving is expected during the great wealth transfer, but some families are discovering after they rushed to give away their assets to save on taxes that they may have gotten the timing wrong, some financial analysts said.
Many families in 2024 and 2025 rushed to their accountants, advisers and attorneys to set up estate plans to lock in the benefits of the soon-to-be expiring Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA). TCJA lowered tax rates, doubled the standard deduction and doubled the lifetime gift exemption but was scheduled to sunset at the end of 2025. All that changed when President Donald Trump signed into law on July 4, 2025, his signature tax and spending package that made permanent all those provisions.
People could slow down and take time to hash out a plan to give their assets away, well, except for those who already accelerated their gift-giving.
“Are people having buyer’s remorse? Yes, maybe some of them,” said Dina Friedman, private wealth strategies advisor at Merrill.
With more than 11,000 baby boomers now turning 65 years old every day, approximately $124 trillion is expected to shift to younger generations and charities through 2048, according to Cerulli and Associates.
