Not happy with that four percent return on your money-market fund? Interest rates have gone down remarkably in recent years. As Confucius said, though, every problem is an opportunity (or was it Groucho Marx?).

There are several estate planning ideas that are especially attractive when interest rates are low. They include the following:

1. Loans to children. You can make a low-interest loan to a child without using any of your gift tax exemptions. The permitted rates vary monthly.

2. Installment sales of assets to children. These pencil out particularly well with income-producing real estate. Such a sale can provide you with cash flow and estate tax savings.

3. Charitable lead annuity trusts. By this arrangement you could give investment assets to a trust which would pay a stated return to charity for a period of years, then revert to your children. Low interest rates allow a smaller gift tax valuation of the children's deferred interest.

4. GRATs. You can give assets to a trust for children that pays you income for a period of years, and distributes trust principal to children at the end of the term. As with the charitable lead annuity trust, low interest rates lessen the stated value of the gift to your children.

It's not important that you be an expert on all these planning ideas. It will help your heirs, however, if you get an estate planning "check-up" periodically so new opportunities may be considered. We are constantly surprised at the number and variety of ideas that emerge from an every-few-years review.

We hope the balance of the year is successful for you, financially and otherwise.