Stock. Capital Gains. Ack!
The first job that I had when I got out of college in 1997 was at a company called TALX. While I was there I put a chunk of my earnings into the employee stock purchase plan. When I left TALX in 1999, I let the stock just sit there. A couple of years ago I activated the dividend reinvestment option on my stock. And then I let it sit.
Every quarter I get a statement telling me how much the stock is worth. And every quarter I start thinking about selling a chunk of the stock and buying something else. I've heard that diversifying your portfolio is a good investment strategy. I don't want to do it though. While the stock has done well for me, I'm not afraid of losing the potential earnings should it continue to climb. I'm also not even considering the potential loss of value if it should tank. At this point it's just found money. The thing that prevents me from selling the stock is that I don't want to lose the substantial chunk that would be capital gains.
By this point I've held it long enough that I think that it would "only" be subject to the 18% capital gains tax. But 18% is still a big chunk of change. Considering that I would be looking to take that money and buy another stock with it, it seems like a faulty proposition to avoid a potential loss by taking an immediate loss (capital gains plus broker commission) and a future loss (capital gains on the new stock). But I guess there is no way to make money without getting taxed on it.
Until I get over my fears of loss in Canfield I trust.
Every quarter I get a statement telling me how much the stock is worth. And every quarter I start thinking about selling a chunk of the stock and buying something else. I've heard that diversifying your portfolio is a good investment strategy. I don't want to do it though. While the stock has done well for me, I'm not afraid of losing the potential earnings should it continue to climb. I'm also not even considering the potential loss of value if it should tank. At this point it's just found money. The thing that prevents me from selling the stock is that I don't want to lose the substantial chunk that would be capital gains.
By this point I've held it long enough that I think that it would "only" be subject to the 18% capital gains tax. But 18% is still a big chunk of change. Considering that I would be looking to take that money and buy another stock with it, it seems like a faulty proposition to avoid a potential loss by taking an immediate loss (capital gains plus broker commission) and a future loss (capital gains on the new stock). But I guess there is no way to make money without getting taxed on it.
Until I get over my fears of loss in Canfield I trust.
posted by mypetrock at 11:43 AM
1 Comments:
i think you can avoid capital gains if you roll it into a retirement plan (401K, IRA). you might want to talk to a finical advisor to see if that works.
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