A 55 year old executive is considering retiring and asks your opinion whether it would be better for him to gift $500,000 in cash to his only daughter or invest the $500,000 and bequeath the $500,000 plus earnings to his daughter in his will. The executive is healthy and expects to live at least another 20 years. His entire estate is expected to be in excess of the exclusion amount. What advice would you give the executive? Explain you reasoning including any assumptions as to taxes, earning rates on investments, spending patterns, potential changes in the law, and so on. Would your answer be different if he wanted to give stock which has significantly appreciated since he purchased it? in the alternative, how might the annual gift tax exclusion be used to transfer value to his daughter ?