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The 2026 federal exemption is $15M per person, now permanent. Oregon taxes estates above $1M and Washington above $3M, so a paid-off house and two 401(k)s can owe state tax with zero federal tax.

We ran a $150,000 net-income freelance consultant through the calculator with a $70,000 reasonable salary — the S-Corp election clears even a $3,000/year compliance cost, because only the salary gets hit with payroll tax.

We ran a real 3-sibling scenario — a doctor, a teacher, and a freelancer — through equal, proportional, and hybrid cost splits. The 'fair' answer changes completely depending on which one you pick.

We ran a $300/year premium discount for raising a homeowners deductible from $1,000 to $2,500 through the calculator: breakeven is 0.2 claims/year (1 every 5 years), well above the III's ~1-in-12-year average claim frequency.

Two IRS tests decide it, and Social Security income doesn't count against the limit. We ran a real scenario: a daughter covering 70% of her mother's support, paying for adult day care so she can keep working.

We ran a $350K home at 90% LTV with a $200/month PMI premium through the calculator — a $300/month extra principal payment reaches the 80% removal threshold 10 months sooner, beating a modest investment-return assumption on the same money.

The 2025 AALTCI Price Index shows LTC premiums roughly triple from age 55 to 70 for the same benefit. We compared buying young against just investing the premium instead.

We ran 1.5 points on a $450,000 loan at 6.75% through the calculator — the $6,750 upfront cost breaks even well before 12 years, but turns into a pure loss for a buyer who sells or refinances within 2-3 years.

We ran a healthy 35-year-old's $500K term ($300/yr) against a comparable whole life policy ($3,000/yr) through the calculator — investing the $2,700/yr difference at 7% clears typical whole life cash value by over $54,000 in 20 years.

Lost wages are the visible part. We ran the SSA's own bend-point formula on a 2-year caregiving leave and found the lost employer match and a permanently lower Social Security check often outweigh the missed paychecks.

We ran the 2024 Genworth/CareScout Cost of Care Survey numbers side by side across all four common care types. The gap between the cheapest and most expensive option is over $56,000 a year.

We ran $200K taxable, $600K traditional, and $150K Roth against a $60,000/year spending need over 25 years — the conventional draw-down order (taxable first, Roth last) saved real tax dollars versus drawing proportionally from all three.

We ran a $250K mortgage locked in at 3.5% against a $40,000 kitchen remodel — a cash-out refi at today's 6.8% resets the entire balance, while a HELOC leaves the cheap rate untouched. Over 7 years, the HELOC wins by a wide margin.

We ran an $800,000 traditional IRA through the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table at age 73 — the required minimum distribution comes to roughly $30,000, taxed as ordinary income, whether or not you need the money that year.

We ran a $250,000 lump-sum offer against a $24,000/year pension (2% COLA) for a 65-year-old expecting to live to 85 — the breakeven discount rate lands just above 9%, well above conservative retirement-portfolio assumptions.