I wonder...
Does this count as earned income for the kids?
Cause she could EASILY set them up for life if she opened an IRA for each one and put the money in there.
Nah. Child support is paid to the parent, not the children. It also isn't taxable income for the recipient - so whatever Blake is paying her each month is
exactly what she gets.
But she can do one better for the kids.
2018 tax code made it so that parent can gift each of their children up to $15,000 per year, tax-free.
Gifts from parents up to that $15,000 limit aren't counted as taxable income for the children.
However, any investment gains associated with that money
is taxable (capital gains). Because that $15K isn't taxed upon receipt by the children, it isn't eligible to be put in an IRA (the max amount you can put into an IRA if you're under age 50 is $5,500 per year of taxable income).
Still, you don't pay capital gains until you sell whatever you've bought.
So in the time between purchasing the asset and selling it, the returns are compounding tax-free.
Imagine $15K / year for life, tax-free, compounding at even just 5%. At age 65, those kids will have over $7.5 million in the bank before capital gains tax. After long-term capital gains tax, it gets chopped down by 15% or 20% depending on their income at the time.
Lots of companies are now doing stock buybacks rather than dividend distributions because of the tax efficiency. The value impact is the same (there's now less shares outstanding for the company, making each share worth more), but buybacks don't trigger capital gains taxes the way dividends do.
They'd be smart to sell the assets when they stop working & retire. That way, they pay 0% capital gains tax (the 2018 tax code makes it so capital gains tax is variable based on your taxable income, and if you are married filing jointly you pay 0% long-term capital gains with an income below $77,220)
Doing those simple things means they walk away with over $7.5 million never having paid a penny in taxes
Shyt is bananas