Most of you will leave something to your heirs, and most of them will have to pay taxes on what you leave. Isn’t that grand now? You paid taxes when you earned it, and now your kids will have to pay again. A client called me last week and complained about having to pay capital gains when he sold his house at a so called “profit.” There was only profit on paper, because even though he sold it for more dollars, the dollar had gone down just as much as did the sale of his house go up…in declining dollars. He made no actual profit, but the tax collector got him anyway.
The problem is to avoid having your kids to pay taxes on whatever you may leave them. If your gold and silver is in a safe deposit box, be sure to have your kids’ names on the box as well as yours and your mates, so that when you die, it will be community property, not just yours, and therefore will be non-taxable. Even if they don’t know their names are on it, do it anyway, so that when you expire, they may have a surprise amidst their grief.
My safe can be fought over by the kids, and I hope they have a good time with it, but our 1887 home which is full of antiques, is another matter. Your home, when you die, will have the same problems, and I can’t help with that unless it is to make it joint ownership long before you die, which isn’t a bad idea. I haven’t done that, but am considering it.
You bought your gold and silver to preserve your assets, correct? If you need a few bucks, you can sell a bit of it from time to time to make your life comfortable, right? If you die, and you still have a lot of gold and silver, you can simply pass it on by telling them where it is or the combination to your safe. NO ONE KNOWS YOU HAVE IT, SO WHY SHOULD YOU TELL ANYONE, AND ESPECIALLY A LAWYER, WHEN YOU ARE SICK OR ABOUT TO DIE? Be smart, people. If you bought a Model A for $500 from some little old lady who had it in her barn for 50 years, and hadn’t the slightest idea of what it was worth, and you sold it for $15,000, would you report it? Is there a 1099 from the little old lady? Of course not!
Give Caesar what belongs to Caesar, but your gold and silver certainly don’t belong to him. Caesar didn’t buy it and pay taxes on the money used to buy it, but you did. You paid taxes on every dime you ever made, and if you put some dollars into gold and silver, it has nothing to do with Caesar. It isn’t his to claim, and you paid taxes on the dough you used to buy it. Skipping Caesar on what I want to leave to my kids without paying even more taxes on it, is just fine with me.
ABOUT SILVER
There is no shortage of silver, but there certainly is a shortage of manufacturing capacity! The mint which makes the beautiful ten ounce bars is making them as fast as it can, and the US Mint in West Point New York, is making Silver Eagles also as fast as they can, but the demand for silver is unbelievable. If you book it with Dave or myself, it is locked in at that price, and you will get it, but it can’t be shipped to you till it comes in to Brinks, from where it is shipped and made. Everyone is doing their best, and it just requires some patience. Even Johnson-Matthey in Salt Lake City, is having a hard time keeping up with the demand for 100 ounce bars, but they also are doing their best.
Thanks to those of you who had downloaded all my columns and forwarded them to my new server and web site host. There will be no more hard drive crashes with this host. The “archives” is once again just about complete. Have a great weekend.