Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce have been making headlines about their high-wattage celebrity engagement. Swift’s “Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married” post on Instagram captured worldwide attention this summer, but unlike most schoolteachers, the music superstar and Kansas City Chiefs football player together would have a vast fortune and are likely to need expert tax and financial planning advice.
“When we’re thinking about individuals that are in that ultra high net worth space, there are a number of different planning considerations that are relevant to couples,” said Mike Prinzo, a managing principal at CliftonLarsenAllen, a Top 10 Firm. “Estate planning certainly is a cornerstone that’s going to be really important to the two of them, given the massive amount of wealth that they’ve accumulated through their ventures.”
Swift’s net worth is estimated to be $1.6 billion as of 2024, according to Forbes, while Kelce’s is estimated at $70 million. Both are likely to require a team of financial professionals and attorneys who may suggest they draw up a prenuptial agreement.
“There’s different and very important aspects around the planning scenarios that they’re no doubt considering, and those involve a discipline in wealth advisory, a discipline in tax, certainly a discipline in the legal framework, because that’s going to be a very important part if there’s a prenuptial going into the marriage, and then even how assets are titled and held that are created during their time as a married couple,” said Prinzo.
They may be able to take advantage of some of the provisions in the recent tax legislation, including the estate tax exemption. “The team-based approach is critical,” said CLA managing principal Brian D’Orazio. “With the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that was passed earlier this summer, the same kind of approach and mentality is required on the estate side of things, with the lifetime exemption now scheduled to be at $15 million.”
The exemption is going to be indexed for inflation and will rise even higher in the future.
“Thinking about the potential growth in the future, some strategies to fully maximize their lifetime exemption would be critical to get the most efficient use of that,” D’Orazio added. “Maybe that’s through discounting and things of that nature, or just other freezing techniques to make sure that the growth and the appreciation occurs out of their estate. It’s hard to be thinking about it as they just got engaged, but I think that’s something to revisit over time.”
Music rights will no doubt play a role in their planning. During a recent podcast interview with Travis and his brother Jason Kelce on their New Heights series, Swift discussed the importance of acquiring the rights to the original master recordings of her first six albums earlier this year after a long legal battle. She will surely want to protect those rights in the future.
“It is a significant asset that was obviously accumulated and developed prior to engagement, or in this case, marriage,” said Prinzo. “The aspect of how those assets are titled, and even how that income and that future income is taxed, becomes a very important part of how the analysis and the plan that’s introduced for the two of them is implemented.”
The couple’s various streams of income are likely to be taxed at different rates. “When they’ve accumulated the size of the balance sheet that each of them have, it’s going to generate various types of income, income that’s taxed maybe at capital gain rates, income that’s ordinary income,” said Prinzo. “That structure of how they hold assets that they acquired prior to becoming engaged, and then how they hold those assets after the marriage begins, becomes an important part of that team-based analysis. … There’s legal considerations, wealth advisory considerations and tax issues to consider as they develop a plan on how to hold and manage those assets and those streams of income.”
Kelce’s brother Jason retired from the NFL last year, and Travis may be nearing retirement as well. The two are likely to continue their podcast series no matter what happens and perhaps go into the TV broadcast booth as well.
“There are definitely tax considerations from the very successful podcast,” said Prinzo. “As we think about this more broadly, for ultra high net worth individuals, the sources of income, like retirement income, that would come to them after their career is over, the way those assets are titled and beneficiary designations become important, and then obviously where the future growth of additional assets may come. As we’ve seen in many cases with professional athletes, oftentimes the income that they earn after their playing career is over could be substantial. In many cases, it might even eclipse the income that they earned while they were playing a sport.”
Identifying and distinguishing those streams of income will be necessary. “It’s important to have the team-based approach to look at how those assets are acquired and the income recognition that would come in the future,” said Prinzo. “Whether there would be capital gain or ordinary income streams of income, certainly there’s lots of planning that would be important to an individual in that space.”
The couple will need to plan ahead in case they decide to start a family. “It’s still new in their journey together, but if some time in the future, maybe the family composition alters — they have children or adopt children, or something along those lines,” said D’Orazio. “Just know that life happens over time. Tax laws change. Maybe their goals or values change. Maybe the makeup of their family changes over time, but all those would be good reasons just to revisit what’s in place, and if any updates or alterations need to take place.”
The couple will probably want to direct some of that income toward charitable and philanthropic endeavors as they have in the past, and could benefit from some tax advice on whether to set up a private foundation, donor-advised fund or charitable trust.
“That can help balance some of the estate planning needs, as well as helping to manage some of the income tax considerations,” said Prinzo. “Those types of vehicles are often a central point and an important foundational tool to use when we’re talking about planning with ultra high net worth individuals. Donor-advised funds, charitable trusts and private foundations are all important tools that ultra high net worth individuals might consider in both estate tax planning purposes as well as managing income tax liabilities.”
