Earlier this week, I received an anguished call from an investor—let’s call her Emily. Emily’s accountant was finishing up her tax return and was surprised to see a $113,000 capital gain. The explanation turned out to be just as surprising. The issue stemmed from a well-intentioned move by the [...]
Five numbers to beware of
Last week, I described investing as a task that can be maddening. It’s not just investing, though. Many other questions in personal finance can also drive us crazy. Why is that? One reason is that often the stakes are high. Mistakes can be costly. A second reason is that all data, by definition, [...]
Jane’s story
I'd like to start with a seemingly simple question: Suppose you'd purchased an investment for $19,000 and later sold it for $287,000. Would there be a gain or a loss? If you answered that there would be a gain, I would agree with you. Specifically, it appears the gain would be $268,000. But what if [...]
A framework for giving
With the end of the year approaching, a topic that may be on your mind is charitable giving. But how exactly should you approach it? For many people, charitable giving tends to be driven by the charities themselves. As solicitations arrive, people decide on a case-by-case basis whether or not to [...]
Maintaining wealth
Recently, Wall Street Journal personal finance columnist Jason Zweig made this observation: Getting rich isn’t the hard part, he said. “Staying rich is the hard part.” On the surface, staying rich might actually seem like the easy part. After all, you simply need to build a balanced portfolio [...]
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