@flajunkie wrote:
Gosh, I did not think I could feel any worse about this. $660 per $3,000 loss? I never thought of it that way.
But thank you for the answer.
I will never buy anything in the stock market again.
Well, that's rather silly, especially considering your "retirement income" is almost certainly invested in the stock market, either as a 401k or a company pension. However, unless you dedicate yourself to becoming a stock market expert, most people are better off investing in a one or more mutual funds, rather than trying to pick individual stocks.
Also, if you did have other investments in stocks or bonds, you could sell investments that have gained in value, to create gains that can be offset by the loss. Your loss can be used to offset any investment gains plus an extra $3000. If you have no gains, you can only deduct $3000 per year until the loss is used up, but if you can sell something else to create a gain, the loss can offset that gain.
