I'm very much on your side of the argument but it's common practice. It's not like you can walk into a bank tomorrow and ask for that sort of thing, but for a HNW customer who makes use of lots of private banking services it's routine.
I'm not Bezos or part of his family office so I can't say for sure. My guess would be a mixture of capital demands elsewhere (Blue Origin?) and a desire to diversify. Start-up founders necessarily keep all their eggs in one basket; people building a multi-generational fortune don't.
Is it still that common? I'm not super duper high net worth so maybe I'm missing out on the good deals, but my bank offers these loans interest of SOFR+2-4% depending on your net worth. When the SOFR rate is <1% like during COVID, it's a pretty good deal. When the SOFR rate is more like 5% (which I think is more typical?), it's not such a good deal.
>When the SOFR rate is <1% like during COVID, it's a pretty good deal.
It is very common to make loans based on using stocks, etc. as collateral. But that isn't what people claim happens with the "buy, borrow, die" loophole. The claim is that these loans have incredibly low interest rates (much lower somehow than the IRS Applicable Federal Rate) and the interest is only payable upon death - which might be decades away. That is how the borrower can supposedly avoid capital gains taxes.
Maybe there are rich lenders who don't understand the time value of money, but doing a quick search, I have not found one stat on how many lifetime loans like this are actually being done.
I don't know that I've seen a lot of details, but I didn't realize the rates were supposed to be less than benchmark rates. Either way, the expectation is that the appreciation of the capital exceeds the interest. (Not that anyone should rely on that expectation, but clearly, people do)
And that the lender is offering the loan to capture an ultra high net worth investor; so even if you lose money on the interest, you gain on advisory services and fees; plus first bite at holding the accounts of the heirs. Requiring good collateral and high account minimums make the risk for the lender low --- if broad market value drops significantly, the account should still have more collateral to pledge to get back to 1:1. Also, if market value drops significantly, selling shares becomes easier for the investor, as there may be some shares with capital losses, and paying down the loan becomes more attractive.
> I don't know that I've seen a lot of details, but I didn't realize the rates were supposed to be less than benchmark rates.
I know someone who got a mortgage rate way, WAY below prevailing rates (like around 1%, gotten back when normies like us got rates around ~3%), because 1. he is a very high net worth individual and 2. he owns a business that does a lot of business with the bank. So, he gets extra special treatment because he's rich and the bank appreciates his business and expects the relationship to lead to even more business.
It's not a huge stretch to imagine that Jeff Bezos's bank would happily loan him money at some token 0.01% interest rate or some similar sweet deal.
It's not under AFR, it's just generally less than inflation.
And the loan terms aren't payable at death on any of the loans, they just let you refi every year when you want another $100M for that year's incidentals.
There are many web pages claiming this, but I haven't seen actual statistics on this loophole. To be clear, many, many, people borrow against the value of an asset - from the middle class up to the ultra wealthy and they can defer capital gains in that way. The claim with buy, borrow, die is that you can borrow for decades and not have to pay back the loan until death. Some claim that the rich just keep rolling over loans on to new loans to avoid paying interest/principal for decades. The reddit posting discussing this has been edited since it was first discussed on hacker news, but now it emphasizes that the bank and the ultra wealthy person come to some sort of agreement to share in the gains of the asset upon death. Considering the length of the agreement it seems it would difficult to come up with an agreement that would be fair to both sides in that agreement.
I saw that on reddit, /u/Taxing responded to a different post by the author of the reddit posting and was skeptical of how common this approach is:
>...I too went to law school, earned my LL.M. from NYU and have been practicing in this area for decades with broad family office clients ranging from a few hundred million to many billions, and yes have clients with public companies, private companies, and taken companies between the two structures. I’ve worked at every level and now sit on the boards, manage the relationships, etc., which I enjoy more.
>...I struggle to think of a single family office interested in a lifelong arrangement with Goldman or other firm at that level, providing them strings of participation and control. Over time, circumstances change, and they are not your friend.
So, maybe, the "Buy, Borrow, Die" approach is common practice, but I have yet to see any actual stats on it.
I'm not Bezos or part of his family office so I can't say for sure. My guess would be a mixture of capital demands elsewhere (Blue Origin?) and a desire to diversify. Start-up founders necessarily keep all their eggs in one basket; people building a multi-generational fortune don't.