I often meet with estate planning clients who want to help their children, grandchildren, or other young ones out financially. It’s usually through gifts for education or health-related needs, or perhaps with money to buy a home or car. No client has ever come to me, though, with the gift idea that I’m proposing today.

Did you know that you can contribute to a Roth IRA for someone else? You can fund a Roth IRA for anyone, even a minor, up to the amount of that person’s earned income. If the child is young when the Roth is started and you continue to make gifts for a few years, that Roth could potentially generate many hundreds of thousands of tax-free dollars (or more!) to see your child securely through his or her retirement years.

If this idea is exciting to you, you can still make a gift based on a child’s 2019 earnings, but you have only until July 15 to get it done. If you’re intrigued but now is not the right time, please keep this idea in your back pocket. It’s a good one!