Well, we are finally in the 4th quarter of 2009!  Time to start looking at any losses in our brokerage accounts (this past year was bad for me, too many high beta stock).  Beta is the risk factor the stock is rated at, 1 being average risk, and anything higher than 1 being more risky.

If your losses are greater than you gains, you can take the losses as a deduction against your earned income but only up to $3,000 worth.  The amount over $3,000 will have to be taken against future years gains (or it’s also possible to take it against past years gains, but that’s a bit more tricky).

Hopefully, you don’t have any wash sales (I’ll explain this in a future post)…

As for me, I won’t be taking any losses, at least not this October or November.  Depending on how the market does in December, I might cash some stocks in.  Most likely, I won’t even cash out then either.  I’ll wait until next year to consider losses.  I don’t like to sell low and buy high…

Hopefully, the market and labor market will be back fully back on track sometime in 2010.

-D