Giving to charity
If you want to donate money to charity, do it from your IRA money.  For example:  when you leave your heirs a dollar of IRA funds, they will pay, for example, 33 cents for taxes and have 67 cents to spend.  If your estate is over $2.0 million, they will also pay estate tax on this money and may have only 35 cents left for each dollar (Assumes an income tax of 33% plus estate tax of 48% on the after tax amount).  However, when you leave them a dollar that is non-retirement money, they spend it with no income tax.

When you leave retirement money to a charity, there is no estate tax and no income tax, as the charity does not pay tax.  Therefore, by allocating your retirement funds and post-tax funds correctly to charitable and non-charitable beneficiaries, taxes can be saved.

Shelter your retirement money from estate tax
Many people have reached age 70½ and are taking only the minimum required distributions from their IRAs.  By taking the minimum required, they income taxes are minimized.  But depending on your situation, this tactic can create another problem:  the IRA balance continues to grow and it could be subject later to double taxation – income and estate taxes.  One solution would be to take a larger annual distribution from your IRA, pay the taxes on the amount, and invest the proceeds in a fixed universal life policy owned outside the estate – proceeds of which are free of estate and income tax.