Year-end gifting: Strategies for family, charity and your financial future

For many investors, 2026 has been a year of especially strong investment performance. As December approaches, now is a good time to ask yourself, “Has this year’s growth changed what you can or want to do with your wealth?” Strong market performance can create new planning opportunities, but it can also make familiar decisions more complex: how much to give, which assets to use, when to act, and how those choices fit within a broader estate and tax strategy. For some families, this may mean helping children or grandchildren today rather than leaving additional assets as a future inheritance. Others may want to increase charitable giving or begin a more systematic approach to transferring family wealth. Put Year-End Gifting to Work In 2026, an individual can generally give up to $19,000 per recipient under the federal annual gift tax exclusion without using any lifetime exemption. A married couple may be able to give $38,000 per recipient, depending on how the gifts are structu