[GregWeld]

I sat here thinking about this --- and for a new investor there's a lot of things they've heard about "investing" that are just so wrong.

I get into lots of conversations with various people - and I love to hear a guy bragging about the big "write off" he's going to take on something. I smile knowingly. I know this guy doesn't know squat about investing or taxes and that he's bragging about something that most likely didn't or isn't going to happen anyway. He THINKS this is the way all the rich guys talk so by mentioning it - he too must be one of them. He's also the same dipsh!t that in the next sentence is going to tell me he pays his VISA off every month.

TAX LOSSES are used to OFFSET (cancel or reduce) GAINS. Those losses and gains have to be what's called REALIZED. You can't have a gain in your account on paper that you haven't actually realized (sold the shares and taken that gain!) and try to sell some losers and "account" for that gain. You have to have sold the gaining shares - and then figure out what you've gained - and then sell some loser shares for the offset.

You CAN NOT - just sell some shares, for let's say 100K loss -- and then try to completely offset your entire years income from working (Ordinary income). It doesn't work that way!!

The tax man doesn't live in a cave somewhere... they write all manor of rules to keep people in line! LOL.

At the end - or coming up to the end - of the year... you'll hear about TAX LOSS SELLING. Yeah -- this is done all the time and is normal... but that selling is only done to reduce (tax wise) the amount of GAINS taken in the same year. It's simply a way to reduce your tax bite on those gains. So in other words you would have had to have realized gains - and then realized losses... This is NOT a way to make a ton of money and write it all off like the big shot bragger dumbass is trying to tell you he's going to do.