Yeah, I got lucky. I wasn’t thinking about tax issue until I found out the max loss I could declare is $3000. Your strategy is very smart. I will keep it in mind from now on.

[quote=temeculaguy][quote=jimmyle]yes, i sold my stocks in 2008 after owning them for more than one year and lost $12K. Then I bought some stocks in June and just sold them for a $10K profit hence short term gain.[/quote]

Well jimmy, fsd has the answer, even before you clarified, he’s a smartie. Now that you know the trick, use the strategy and avoid selling into a loss greater than 3k unless you have a winner to offset it. There was no way to know you were going to hit a 10k winner so in hindsight, you should have spread that 12k loser over 4 years unless you had a gain and after a gain, then lose the matching amount. You got lucky this time, next time, you wont need as much luck, you can make your own. Who say’s math isn’t fun.[/quote]