Have you bought any mutual funds this year or late last year while the market was doing its skyrocket thing? Last year it was hard to lose money. This year it has been easy.
You should be calling your mutual fund (they all have 800 numbers) to find out if and when they plan to pay their capital gains and dividends. You might say to yourself, they won't be paying anything this year because the fund is selling for less now than it did at the beginning of the year. Think again. It is very probable that the mutual fund manager took profits on many high flyers that he bought cheap last year. According to the way funds are set up those profits are taxable to holders of the mutual fund and not to the fund itself.
It is possible you bought a fund at $40 per share that is now selling at $30 per share and be hit with a 25% capital gains distribution of $10. On paper you now have a $10 per share loss and a tax bill based on the $10 per share distribution. That is adding injury to insult.
With this as a possible scenario it might be prudent to sell your fund for less than you paid for it. You should work the numbers with your accountant to see if this might reduce your tax bill. But you have to do it now. You can't wait until after the mutual fund declares its capital gains distribution. This is especially true if you have purchased any high tech or international funds during the past year. You can carry losses forward to next year to offset against profits and distributions next year.
The greatest numbers of mutual funds declare these distributions near the end of the year, usually starting in November with most of them in December. The rumors I hear are that the distributions will be early this year because of the poor performance of the majority of funds.
This applies to everyone who does not have a tax shelter of some kind such as a 401k, IRA, SEP or other similar investment vehicle.
One piece of advice I want you to heed. Don't buy any mutual funds now because they are "cheap". Wait until after they declare their capital gains and dividend distributions. You could be whacked with a big tax bill.
Al Thomas' book, "If It Doesn't Go Up, Don't Buy It!" has helped thousands of people make money and keep their profits with his simple 2-step method. Read the first chapter at http://www.mutualfundmagic.com and discover why he's the man that Wall Street does not want you to know.
Copyright 2005
http://www.mutualfundmagic.com; 1-888-345-7870
personalized cleaning services Des Plaines ..In November of 2000 when the NASDAQ was trading at... Read More
On Monday, November 25, 2000 Investor's Business Daily listed on... Read More
Are you paying any attention to your retirement savings? Do... Read More
An investor can find and research the best stock on... Read More
Now where have I heard that before? I know. It... Read More
One Saturday morning, while he was sitting at his computer... Read More
There are formulas for just about everything, but it has... Read More
On Friday or Saturday evening my wife gets a movie... Read More
Financial markets provide their participants with the most favorable conditions... Read More
It has often been said that there is only two... Read More
There are many good penny stock investments available, which could... Read More
Most stock traders know that momentum trading can be a... Read More
When it comes to buying a stock or mutual fund... Read More
The Winter Games for the Olympics are coming up soon... Read More
AS BUILDERS BEGIN WORK ON THE FREEDOM TOWER in New... Read More
One of the main reasons many of us get into... Read More
In his wonderful book, 'Multiple Streams of Income', best selling... Read More
After the publication of the first part of this two... Read More
Is really not as important as to how you invest... Read More
It's about time someone spoke the truth concerning outsourcing. The... Read More
One of the basic laws of physics is that a... Read More
Let's say you are interested in this one company. You... Read More
I read a comment by a forum member on another... Read More
If you are fed up with early redemption charges and... Read More
For years I have been saying you must have a... Read More
family-safe home cleaners Arlington Heights ..Forget making a profit; instead focus on the income provided... Read More
You'd have had to be living on a desert island... Read More
Wouldn't it be nice if you were only in the... Read More
Right now there doesn't seem to be any "gold fever".... Read More
The date October 13, 2000 will forever be embedded in... Read More
The higher the market goes the more confusing are the... Read More
We are already in it, but you can't see it.... Read More
For the year 2000 we have seen hundreds of mutual... Read More
Two weeks ago I wrote about what the Securities and... Read More
I was recently interviewed for a press release through a... Read More
I am hearing predictions by brokers, financial planners, talk show... Read More
Everyone who follows the financial news has heard of mutual... Read More
Why? Because I am going to shatter your conventional wisdom... Read More
Let's assume that you want to make some serious money... Read More
One of the great "secrets" of successful people is discipline... Read More
It has been said that low cost or even free... Read More
Now that you have some money burning a hole in... Read More
A Guide to Using Stop Loss Orders Stop losses are... Read More
Every day in any financial publication you will find the... Read More
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall and all the King's... Read More
You probably have been told that options are risky. Even... Read More
If you have a pension plan at work you will... Read More
Should the market turn against you, it is important that... Read More
The stock market has been in an up trend for... Read More
Unfortunately, most of you who are reading my column are... Read More
Stocks & Mutual Fund |