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your own retirement, have adequate health insurance, can pay off your mortgage and are otherwise debt-free. You wouldn't want to deplete your resources and then become a financial burden on others.
• If you can check all those boxes, consider these options:
• Avoid the gift tax. You can give cash or property worth up to $14,000 per year, per individual, before you'll trigger the federal gift tax. (Married couples filing jointly can give $28,000 per recipient.) You'll probably never have to pay a gift tax, however, since you're allowed to bestow up to $5.25 million in gifts during your lifetime above and beyond the annual $14,000 excluded amounts before the gift tax kicks in - which for most of us means never. Read IRS Publication 950 (at www.irs.gov) for details.
• Pay for education. If college is still far off for your children, grandchildren or others, consider funding a 529 State Qualified Tuition Plan for them. Any interest the account earns is not subject to federal (and in most cases, state) income tax; plus, many states offer tax deductions for contributions made to their own 529 Plans. And don't worry: If one child decides not to attend college, you can always transfer the account balance to another without penalty.
• Roth IRAs for kids. If your minor children or grandchildren earn income (allowances and gifts don't count), you may fund a Roth IRA on their behalf. You can contribute up to $5,500 or the amount of their taxable earnings for the year, whichever is less. Your contributions are made on an after-tax basis but the earnings grow, tax-free, until the account is tapped at retirement.

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