3 Estate Planning Strategies That Thrive in Volatile Markets
From GRATs to Roth conversions, learn how to leverage market swings to protect your family’s future wealth.
When markets are volatile, your estate can benefit from a refresh. That includes how you manage your portfolio in a down market. The S&P 500, Nasdaq and Dow Jones Industrial Average are all slipping as war breaks out in Iran. But for those with an estate they want to pass on to heirs, the declines bring opportunity.
“Assuming that the markets will recover, we are able to transfer a lot of assets outside the estate at discounted dollars,” says Howard Sharfman, senior managing director at NFP Insurance Solutions. “There are many ways to use a temporary dislocation to benefit.”
From gifting to charities and heirs, to engaging in a Roth IRA or Roth 401(K) conversion, here’s how you and your estate can benefit in volatile times.
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Markets are volatile, amp up your gifting
For 2026, the Internal Revenue Service lets you give up to $19,000 for single filers and $38,000 for couples without paying the gift tax or using any gift tax exemption.
You can make as many gifts as you want within those limits. In addition, as of 2026, each person can give up to $15 million during their lifetime (or at death), free of gift and estate tax. When the markets are down, you can gift more stock within the annual tax-free limit.
“You can give away more assets worth less under the hope they will grow in value,” says David Handler, a partner in the trust and estate group at Kirkland & Ellis. Apple, Nvidia or Exxon may be tanking today, but that doesn't mean they will be that low a few years from now.
There are several ways to gift your heirs more assets, such as an irrevocable trust, a Grantor Retained Annuity Trust (GRAT), or a Donor-Advised Fund (DAF).
Irrevocable Trust: It can't be changed or terminated. When the assets are transferred into the trust, you no longer own them. That also means they are no longer considered taxable assets.
Grantor Retained Annuity Trust (GRAT): You avoid using the lifetime gift and estate exclusion. Each year, an annuity is paid out for a predetermined period, and the excesses are passed on to your heirs gift-tax-free.
Let’s say you own $2 million worth of Tesla shares and believe the stock slump is short-lived and will appreciate in the coming years. You want to transfer that future growth to your heirs and create a two-year GRAT that holds the $2 million in Tesla shares.
The annuity payments you get over the two years will equal the initial value of the gift plus interest at the IRS's assumed growth rate. If the value of the stock in the GRAT rises above the assumed growth rate, that excess return is transferred to your heirs gift-tax-free.
“You have to do it while the value is low,” says Handler. “If the stock market rose 500 points, you missed the opportunity.” Remember that just because a stock is low, there is no guarantee it will go back up. In that scenario, there won’t be anything to pass along to heirs.
Donor Advised Fund (DAF): A DAF is a charitable giving vehicle in which you contribute assets, get a tax deduction, and then have a say in grants going to qualified charities. You can donate stocks, cash, real estate and even cryptocurrency.
Using a DAF, you can donate stocks at a lower price and get a charitable deduction on the current fair market value. If the stock recovers, the assets in the DAF grow tax-free, yielding a larger future gift for the charity.
This strategy only works if your main goal is to give charities something that has the potential to appreciate. If you are more focused on the tax deduction, donating when assets are richly valued is a better move.
Roth conversions
A Roth conversion occurs when you move funds from a traditional IRA, 401(K), or 403(b) into a Roth IRA or Roth 401(k). In other words, you are transforming a "traditional" investment into a "Roth" investment.
In a down market, you can convert assets at a lower tax cost because they are worth less and benefit from tax-free growth when the markets turn around.
With a Roth IRA or Roth 401(K), contributions are made with after-tax dollars, but withdrawals are tax-free (with some exceptions).
Let’s say you planned to convert $100,000 worth of stocks out of a traditional 401(k) into a Roth 401(k), but when you do the conversion, the value of the stock has fallen to $70,000.
You pay 30% less in taxes with the conversion, and if and when the stock market rebounds, all future gains are tax-free. Plus, with a Roth IRA or Roth 401(k), there are no Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs), which means your money can grow tax-free for however long you need it to.
“For any clients that have a Roth conversion on the table, now is a great time to consider doing it,” says Will O’Rourke, a financial adviser at Prime Capital Financial. “Roth money is the best thing to travel through an estate.”
Tax loss harvesting
Tax loss harvesting occurs when you offset gains with losing investments to reduce your capital gains exposure. By pairing a winning and losing stock, it counts as a wash, and there is no capital gains tax.
If your losses exceed the capital gains, you can use up to $3,000 to offset income per year. Losses beyond that can be used in future years. There is one caveat. You can’t repurchase the same or a similar security within thirty days before or after.
To prevent yourself from being out of a stock you love for thirty days in a volatile market, Sharfman says to select another stock to purchase that tends to move the same as the one you sold.
Take AI chipmaker Nvidia for one example. If you use that for tax loss harvesting and don’t want to wait thirty days, you can purchase shares of, say, Google or Microsoft, which tend to trade with Nvidia.
Don't go it alone
At the end of the day, it’s best to speak with your financial adviser if you have one. While you can DIY estate planning, there are many moving parts and different tax implications based on the strategy you employ.
“No one ever got poor paying for good advice,” said Sharfman. “This is a great area to pay for advice.”
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