Buy, borrow, die: the tax strategy wallstreetbets is debating
As seen on the 24/7 Wall St. homepage on October 27, 2026.
That’s right, I use this strategy every decade!
Buy, borrow, die is back in the feed, and 1,050 upvotes later the comments are doing the real work: the step-up in basis does the tax magic, and borrowing against a portfolio only pays when gains outrun the loan rate. Worth knowing before you copy a meme into your estate plan.
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A post by user Kevory on r/wallstreetbets lays out the "buy, borrow, die" strategy in plain terms: invest, let the asset grow, borrow against it instead of selling, and pass it to your heirs tax-free when you die. The step-up in basis is the legal mechanism doing the heavy lifting, resetting the cost basis of inherited assets to their market value at the time of death so the embedded gain effectively disappears.
The comment section is where the real scrutiny landed, with 1,050 upvotes on the post and replies pointing out that borrowing against a portfolio only works financially when expected gains outrun the loan's interest rate. The current rate environment makes that calculus a lot harder than it was during the era of near-zero rates.
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You can borrow against investments without a trust, and the inheritance still passes tax-free. The trust adds complexity without adding the core tax benefit, which lives in the step-up in basis regardless.
The post ends with the punchline that the heirs promptly lose the inherited $10 million in short-term options, a reminder that the strategy addresses only the transfer of wealth. Estate mechanics and the discipline to preserve inherited assets are two separate problems.