Buy, Borrow, Die
Death is the only legal tax avoidance strategy.
Everything else is timing.
One concept getting more attention lately captures this perfectly: Buy, Borrow, Die.
Buy appreciating assets.
Borrow against them to create liquidity.
Die with them so your heirs receive a step-up in basis that eliminates the unrealized gains.
The phrase isn’t new. It’s been used in wealth circles for years.
But it entered the mainstream after ProPublica’s 2021 investigation into how billionaires like Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and Warren Buffett legally minimize taxes. Economists and journalists began using it to describe how the ultra-wealthy build and preserve fortunes without triggering taxable events.
It’s a catchy phrase for a strategy that’s been practiced for generations, and it’s as much about patience and structure as it is about tax law.
Still, the principle applies far more broadly than most people realize. Even multi-millionaires can benefit from the same philosophy billionaires use, just on a smaller, more deliberate scale.
The goal isn’t to replicate a billionaire’s balance sheet.
It’s to understand the playbook behind it. You already own appreciating assets – real estate, investments, and business equity – that can create flexibility if handled strategically.
That might mean borrowing against appreciated positions to preserve compounding instead of selling and realizing gains. It might mean using leverage to meet short-term liquidity needs rather than interrupting a long-term plan. Or it could mean structuring your estate so that growth transfers efficiently across generations.
The same thinking applies to where you live. A move to Florida, for example, is just as much about sunshine and lifestyle, as it is about understanding how claiming Florida residency and timing can reduce lifetime tax drag and give you more control over how wealth is preserved.
When you start to view taxes as a strategy instead of a bill, everything changes.
It stops being about paying less and starts being about planning better. It becomes something to coordinate across your team—your CPA, attorney, and advisor—not something to revisit every spring.
Taxes should work as part of your broader wealth strategy, not as an afterthought to it. Because when they’re managed intentionally, they stop feeling like a penalty and start acting like leverage.
In the end, every tax decision is a time decision. You can either give money to the IRS today, or you can give your money more time to work.
Every family’s plan has moving parts. The question isn’t whether you have one. It’s whether the one you have still serves you as well as it could.
Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network did not assist in the preparation of this report, and its accuracy and completeness are not guaranteed. The opinions expressed in this report are those of the author(s) and are not necessarily those of Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network or its affiliates. The material has been prepared or is distributed solely for information purposes and is not a solicitation or an offer to buy any security or instrument or to participate in any trading strategy. Additional information is available upon request.
Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network does not provide legal or tax advice.
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