Anecdote from Bill Bonner at Daily Reckoning made me think about estate taxes ;-)
At dinner, an old friend - who happens to be in the coin business - explained how customers used rare coins as an informal way of estate planning.
"These old fellows are pretty shrewd. They come in and buy coins. Sometimes millions of dollars' worth. Then, they put them in storage somewhere and leave a note to their children about where to find them after they die. Often, the kids don't know anything about coins. So they come into the shop with bags of these coins, asking me what they're worth. One guy came in the other day. I looked at the coins and told him he had about $350,000 worth of coins in his hand. He practically fell over. Then, he told me he had another 14 bags at home."