How can $750 gain caused taxes to rise thousands of $? Are you suggesting that it moved the person from one tax bracket to another? Seems like an extreme example.
I think that each person's tax situation/liability is individual, but perhaps the general sentiment on this thread right now is, take advantage of the momentum, it will earn you more in the end than if you worry about Uncle Sam. I'm sure all of us are concerned about taxes, and the different approaches here are interesting. I know that I was very reluctant for a long time to sell MSFT, and before that DELL shares because of cap gains, and now I'm glad I did. I come out way ahead in QCOM.
Another point about tax is that for some of us (such as myself, who never had or wanted a corporate type job) who didn't have 401Ks automatically, with matched funds, it was a revelation to understand that putting as much $ into my KEOGH as possible each year is important. I realized this first when LindyBill detailed his moves in his IRA. Because this is a market where stocks go on a tear, with favorites cycling in and out of the limelight, you can really leverage your buys and sells in a KEOGH or IRA. Previously, I only looked at KEOGHS as a way to reduce my taxes, not as a way to build wealth. That was an eye-opener. You may pay taxes later (and again, people like myself don't "retire" so we don't have sudden drops in income) but you have created much greater wealth over the previous decades.
Jill |
