Now that we are getting towards the end of the calendar year, I've seen a few articles elsewhere and a few posts on Reddit describing the process of tax loss harvesting and tax gain harvesting. That is something I would like to have a better handle on, so I'd like some guidance if anyone out there has the time to respond. I'm not sure about the specifics, so I'll give as much information as I would imagine is relevant.
In 2017, I made $80k. I maxed out my 401k, Roth IRA, and HSA, so that probably lowers my taxable income.
In my taxable brokerages, I bought into SWTSX, VBILX, and VTIAX this year (so it hasn't been a full year of holding those assets yet). I have had some good gains with them, although I'm not sure that can be counteracted with these methods. (Hopefully someone will help clarify).
I have a fair amount of holdings in some good company stocks that I plan on holding long term.
The ones that I am considering selling and hoping to do productively, if I am correct in my understanding of how loss harvesting works are as follows:
| Fund | Gain/Loss |
|---|---|
| MALOX | -$350 |
| HCOYX | -$1,200 |
| HHCZX | -$900 |
| MWTIX | -$150 |
| VDSIX | -$750 |
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Am I correct in understanding that if I was to sell these assets, I would have ~$3,350 in capital gains taxes that I would be sheltered from?
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Does that only apply to this year or does any remainder get carried over to next/future years?
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Would I be better off waiting to see if any of these funds come back to mitigate my losses rather than selling them (and reinvesting in something more practical like what I've done with my Schwab and Vanguard mutual funds)?
As far as my holdings in SWTSX, VBILX, and VTIAX, for the matter of this post, I should continue to hold them until I see some kind of loss beneath the price I purchased them (the cost basis). In that event, I would want to sell them and switch to their ETF forms so that I can still hold the same asset, but in a different form and then I might reap the reward of their recovery. Is that logic sound? Would I want to get back into the mutual fund at some point?
Submitted December 21, 2017 at 11:56AM by joefuf http://ift.tt/2CSh2b3
