Perhaps the BEST B1G Forum anywhere, here at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

John Grisham is a misguided, talented writer.

Lots of people (many more than not) think corporations are evil.

Where would people work if there were no corporations?

Not everyone can suck off the government. There would no way to fund it.

Careful 847 a certain bent bedouin with bolshevik leanings will be by to correct thee

I'm not sure how "moving money around" is taxable, unless it's coming out of an untaxed account like an IRA.

I transfer funds fairly often between accounts, and it's not taxable unless it's from my IRA.

In the example your 100 million in stock example only works if you stay invested in your current stock and it goes up

I would say the vast number of large investors make their money by buying and selling so that would trigger taxes

It helps if the stock appreciates, yes.  But, one can do this for a long time even if the stock price stays flat, or goes down.  And yes, INVESTORS will tend to buy and sell stock, ergo the term.  I'm not really talking about those folks, even if they are wealthy.  (And investors of course also can avoid income taxes using some other kinds of tactics if they wish, often as not.)

I'm speaking about wealthy people who may have inherited or may have worked early for some startup that made it big.  The fact is, this is a pretty common tax dodge, and entirely legal.  

In the example your 100 million in stock example only works if you stay invested in your current stock and it goes up

I would say the vast number of large investors make their money by buying and selling so that would trigger taxes

We're not talking about large investors--we're talking about ultra-rich corporate guys. Guys like Bezos, Musk, Buffett. 

These guys aren't making their personal fortunes by moving their stock around. It's all in their own companies. 

Borrowing against it also has another advantage--as directors of their companies, they have to publicly report any stock purchases or sales in their own stock. Which always causes outside speculators to wonder "why is he selling??? what does he know???" Which can move the stock in itself. You can somewhat get around that if you have a very open and planned consistent sales, i.e. you sell a certain amount of stock every quarter and it's a planned distribution. But if you just borrow against your stock, you don't have to worry about that. 

I have a sizable investment account that is not a retirement account. When you move money and incur gains on it, you pay taxes whether you take the money or simply reallocate it.

That stems from being self-employed and being limited on how much I could contribute to our 401K plan. Owners cannot have more money in the 401K then the employees. When the employees don't contribute (younger ones don't), it limits the owners.

So, the investment plan is it.

My Roth has been maxed every year for the past 30+ years. Made sure to do that.

I love to buy and sell stocks from my 401k account cause all gains are tax deferred

but, you don't want to be referred to as a "slumlord" and you don't need the headaches?