The 'Buy, Borrow and Die' Wealth Strategy Has Become a $5T Market

Commenters disputed the framing of “buy, borrow and die,” arguing that it conflates two different practices. One said the strategy for avoiding estate taxes is a specialized tool for the ultra-rich, while securities-backed credit lines are available to much less wealthy investors and do not themselves avoid estate taxes. They objected to presenting the broader growth of stock-based lending as evidence that the estate-tax strategy has become a mass-market product. Another commenter welcomed the expanding ability to borrow against assets, describing financial markets as steadily making more kinds of property easy to value, fractionally own, and use as collateral.

Others focused on whether borrowing against wealth should trigger taxation. Some argued that collateralized assets should be treated as liquid and taxed, or that borrowing beyond an asset’s cost basis should count as realized income; one proposed forced sales and repurchases as a way to end the strategy. A commenter blamed tax laws for enabling the wealthy to avoid taxes, including after death. Views also differed on the risks: one asked whether borrowers would lose a larger share of their holdings in a prolonged downturn, while another dismissed the broader financial system as harmful. Together, the comments set the appeal of wider access to credit against concerns that asset-backed borrowing enables tax avoidance and financial risk.