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We ran a family-business estate through the calculator — $850,000 in total cash needed against $200,000 in liquid assets leaves a $650,000 gap on a $3,000,000 business, due in cash within 9 months of death.

We ran a $1,000,000 policy through the calculator at a 40% combined marginal estate tax rate — an ILIT saves $400,000, against roughly $24,750 in setup and 25 years of administration cost.

On a $500K home, drawing $250K through a HECM and letting the loan compound leaves a fraction of the equity that selling, buying a $300K home, and investing the difference would leave.

Debt settlement companies advertise the percentage a creditor accepts. They don't advertise the 15-25% program fee or the IRS tax bill on whatever debt gets forgiven — together they close most of the gap.

A $2M seed at $18.4M pre-money, an $8M Series A, and a $20M Series B — 2026 median deal terms — dilute a founder's stake to 65.6% worth $91.9M. Published survey data says real retention runs lower, due to option-pool refreshes this simplified model doesn't include.

We ran the same $2,500 in student loan interest at three MAGI levels — $60K keeps the full deduction, $92,500 cuts it in half, and $100K erases it completely, even though nothing about the loan changed.

We ran a $50,000 leftover 529 balance through the SECURE 2.0 rollover math — the $35,000 lifetime cap strands $15,000 permanently, and even the eligible portion takes 5 years to move at the annual Roth contribution limit.

We ran $10,000 needed for tuition through the calculator — the 2026-27 Parent PLUS rate of 9.07% plus its 4.228% origination fee costs about $1,360 more over 10 years than an 8% private loan with no fee.

We ran two versions of the same combined-income household through the qualifying math, changing only one partner's monthly debt by $2,000 — the back-end DTI moves from 41% (qualifies) to 61% (likely doesn't).

Base salary is the number founders budget. Employer payroll tax (8.65%) plus a 30% benefits load push an $80,000 salary to a true $110,920 annual cost — 38.65% above the headline number.

We ran a 10-year marriage with a $120K and a $40K earner through Illinois's actual statutory maintenance formula — the raw guideline comes to $30K/year, capped down to $24K/year, for an estimated 4.4 years.

We ran $200K of premarital business equity through the expected-value math: 50% likely split without a prenup, times a 41% divorce probability, comes to $41,000 of expected risk against a $4,000 attorney bill.

On a $2,800 deceased-spouse benefit, claiming at the earliest allowed age of 60 pays $2,002/month. Waiting to Full Retirement Age pays the full $2,800. The gap is permanent, not a temporary reduction.

20 hours a week at $25/hour, 52 weeks a year, comes to $26,000 — over the 2025 gift-tax exclusion if paid informally, but ordinary taxable compensation under a written personal care agreement.

We ran a $15,000 custodial brokerage account through the kiddie tax calculator for high-bracket parents — $12,300 of it gets taxed at the parent's marginal rate, not the child's, once unearned income clears the $2,700 threshold.