Short Form What a Step-Up in Basis Is and Why It Matters When You Inherit Assets

LEGACY INVESTMENT SERVICES

YouTube Short Script  |  June 2025  |  Week 1 - Short 11

TITLE: What a Step-Up in Basis Is and Why It Matters When You Inherit Assets

ADVISOR: Jordan Cassiani

RUNTIME: 55-65 seconds

FORMAT: Vertical 9:16, tight on-camera, no cuts

CTA: Link in bio for complimentary retirement income analysis

Securities and advisory services offered through Osaic Wealth, Inc., member FINRA/SIPC. Legacy Investment Services and Osaic Wealth are separate entities. Content is for educational purposes only. Not investment, tax, or legal advice. All scenarios are hypothetical illustrations.

SCRIPT

If you inherit an investment account or a piece of real estate, there is a tax rule that could save you tens of thousands of dollars, and most people who benefit from it have no idea it exists.

When you inherit an asset, the cost basis, meaning the original purchase price used to calculate capital gains, resets to the fair market value on the date of death. This is called a step-up in basis.

Here is why that matters. Say your parent bought stock for $20,000 forty years ago and it is worth $180,000 when they die. If they had sold it themselves, they would have owed capital gains tax on $160,000 of gain. You inherit it at a basis of $180,000. If you sell it the next day, you owe zero in capital gains. The gain that accumulated over forty years is completely wiped out.

The step-up applies to most inherited assets: stocks, real estate, business interests. It does not apply to inherited retirement accounts like IRAs, because those have never been taxed and distributions are ordinary income regardless.

Understanding which inherited assets receive a step-up and which do not affects how and when you sell them. This is worth knowing before you make any decisions.

Link in my bio.

PRODUCTION NOTES

The stock example makes this concrete immediately. Deliver with the energy of sharing something genuinely useful that most people do not know.

Legacy Investment Services  |  Jordan Cassiani  |  Legacy - Step-Up in Basis Explained - Short - Week 1