Displaying items by tag: tax

Unlike mutual funds or ETFs, personalized indexing permits harvesting losses at the security level, offering more opportunities for ultra-high-net-worth investors to capture additional tax advantages. Tax-loss harvesting involves selling an investment at a loss and reinvesting the proceeds into another asset, a key benefit of direct indexing. 

Direct indexing strategies involve selling stocks below their cost basis and instantly repurchasing correlated replacements to avoid wash-sale rule violations. Since investors own individual stocks in their portfolios, losses can be captured even when the index gains value. DI experts exemplifies this strategy by selling underperforming securities during market gains, using harvested losses to offset capital gains and taxable income up to $3,000 annually, with the option to carry over losses to future years. 

Maximizing tax alpha depends on the frequency of portfolio scans for harvesting opportunities, with daily scanning potentially improving after-tax returns by 1% to 2% or more. Commitment to direct indexing underscores its importance in tax-efficient investing. 

Finsum: The frequency through which a portfolio can be scanned for tax-loss harvesting is making the case extremely compelling for direct indexing.

Buying and selling real estate properties can be quite lucrative for investors, but incurring capital gains taxes can weaken profits. What if there were ways to limit capital gains taxes on properties? In a recent article in SmartAsset, Ashley Kilroy suggested a few different ways for investors to limit their capital gains on real estate properties. The first to employ tax-deferred funds. For instance, you don't have to buy real estate with cash. You can use your IRA or 401(k). By depositing profits in your account, it allows your money to grow tax-free. Second, you can make the property your primary residence. The IRS exempts primary residence sales from capital gains taxes up to $500,000 for married filers and $250,000 for single filers. Third, employing tax-loss harvesting can help you avoid capital gains, assuming you are selling one property for a loss and another for a profit. Fourth, utilizing the 1031 Exchange allows you to use the income from the sale of one property to purchase another property of equal or greater value. In this scenario, you wouldn’t have to pay taxes on prior depreciation deductions. Fifth, the IRS allows rental property owners to deduct an annual depreciation amount from their income. Sixth, you can deduct the costs of managing property through itemized deductions, which lowers your tax burden. Seventh, improving your property boosts your property basis which can shrink your capital gains taxes and increase your property value.

Finsum:A recent article on SmartAsset provided seven different ways investors can limit their capital gains taxes on their real estate properties.

Dems are including a 1% tax on share buybacks in Biden’s climate and tax bill which is being pitched as an inflation bill. The tax was included to get Arizona Senator Krysten Sinema on board with the legislation. Most analysts say this will raise tensions with Wallstreet as investors will be apprehensive about the impact immediately and what it opens the door to moving forward. Many companies have recently engaged in massive buybacks using the excess profits to reinvest in their own companies. Experts say this could generate a lot of revenue, more than the carried interest which is expected to bring in $14 billion.

Finsum: Buy back boogeyman at it again. This legislation stops companies from doing the most responsible thing they can with excess cash.

Direct Indexing is being touted as the best way to generate tax alpha in a portfolio but is it all that it's cracked up to be? Experts say it has limits and diminishing marginal returns over time because as stocks are dropped, replacements with a lower cost basis will be more expensive to unload later on. Moreover one of the less talked about aspects is that as opportunities narrow as stock is unloaded there is less upside to growth opportunities as the portfolio is smaller. Investors should look to capitalize on direct indexing as they offload specific accounts for inheritance and retirement which is a relatively more minor portion of the portfolio.

Finsum: There may be a shift from custom indexing as a primary ESG focus if it fails to deliver tax alpha and is better suited to dropping greenwashers.

(San Francisco)

If you were an advisor at Wells Fargo who wanted to move to its independent arm you would face a big barrier—a so-called “tax” on compensation for two years. The tax was faced by brokers who wanted to move to the Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network, or FiNet. The system is unique among brokers in that it lets brokers go without Wells Fargo totally losing them. However, the two-year tax on compensation was a big barrier. Now, the bank is considering getting rid of the tax so long as advisors sign a two- to three-year contract to stay at FiNet.

FINSUM: This seems a smart move to us as the tide of advisors going independent is only going to grow stronger.