Tax loss harvesting?

[navyasw02]

Does anybody here use tax loss harvesting in their dividend growth strategy? I dont have enough in my taxable account yet to make it worthwhile, but probably will do it next tax year. If you do it, what do you usually do? Do you just trade XOM for CVX or just hold cash for a month?

[cannew]

Investing for a loss!!! Something to be avoided. I'd rather pay taxes on gains.

[crimsonghost747]

The laws are different in different countries and where I am currently the capital losses can only be deducted from capital gains. So seeing as I don't generally sell my shares, I have no need for tax loss harvesting. However if I have some capital gains then I most certainly will try to negate any taxes by selling something for a loss. Obviously I will not lose money on purpose but if the losses are there (and most of us have SOMETHING that is on the negative most of the time) then why not realise a part of them to save on taxes? Apparently you have a 30 day rule in the states, here we don't have that so it's easier. There are other rules but if you play it right a couple of days is enough to realise some losses.

Every dollar you save on taxes is an extra dollar in your pocket.

[navyasw02]

(07-26-2015, 12:38 PM)cannew Wrote: Investing for a loss!!! Something to be avoided. I'd rather pay taxes on gains.

I'm definitely not saying intentionally investing for a loss, it's something that happens naturally as part of owning stocks. Tax loss harvesting simply lets you write down the losses in your principal.

[sagitarius84]

Dividend Growth Investor recently wrote an article on the topic:

http://www.dividendgrowthinvestor.com/20...idend.html

Maybe he/she secretly reads this site?

[earthtodan]

I just sold my 200 shares of TD for an 11% loss and replaced them with 145 shares of BMO for the same dollar amount. Since the Canadian banking sector tends to move in tandem, I'll keep my exposure and switch back in a couple of months depending on the price action. I chose BMO because it has a high amount of US exposure, like TD (per R2R's charts).

Trading was frictionless thanks to MerrillEdge.

[earthtodan]

If the downward momentum continues there will be lots of opportunity for tax loss selling and switching to different holdings. In September my portfolio might look a lot different than it does now, at least where industrials and railroads are concerned. I haven't been chasing oil.

The risk is that the market bounces back just as strong as it dropped, and that I find myself sitting on a bunch of gains, so those new holdings will have to be companies I'm happy to hang onto for the long run.