What Are The Tax Benefits Of Holding A Stock Long Term
The IRS taxes capital gains based on short-term and long-term holdings. Short-term capital gains are taxed on assets sold within a single year of ownership while long-term gains are taxed on the sale of assets held for more than 12 months.
Short-term capital gains are treated as ordinary income, which means you could be taxed as high as 37% based on your tax bracket. Long-term gains, on the other hand, are only subject to a tax of 0%, 15%, or 20%. The rate depends on your adjusted gross income and filing status.
Investments Can Grow Despite Market Fluctuations
The U.S. stock market volatility can be intimidating but history shows the market has been able to recover from declines and still provide investors with a positive return on long-term investments. In fact, over the past 35 years, the market has posted a positive annual return in nearly eight out of every 10 years.1
Dont Try To Time The Market
The old saying that time in the market beats timing the market exists for a reason. Its almost impossible to predict how the market will perform over the next day, week, month, or year. Many people have lost money by trying to time the market, only to sell at market lows or buy at market highs.
A good illustration of this is the story of the worst market timer ever . This hypothetical person started investing in 1973, buying shares only at market highs in 1973, 1987, 2000, and 2007 the worst possible timing, right before major crashes but never selling. By 2015, the unluckiest long-term investor had still earned a return of $980,000 on an investment of just $184,000.
The key is avoiding the urge to sell when the market goes down. Someone who tries to figure out the best times to buy and sell instead of just holding investments for the long term would likely perform much worse.
One of the best strategies is to decide on an investing schedule and to stick to it no matter what the market is doing at the moment. For example, commit to investing $400 on the first of every month or a percentage of every paycheck, regardless of whether the market is up or down.
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Limitations Of Top Long Term Stocks
- Liquidity
Long term stocks often have an extended investment tenor of higher than one year, wherein the entire principal is locked in the share market of the country. This leads to reduced availability of liquid funds, which can cause financial distress in emergencies. Untimely withdrawal can also lead to significant losses, and hence, is not a feasible option among investors.
- Tax
Investing in long term stocks of large scale companies levies the burden of dividend distribution tax, wherein tax at the rate of 10% is deducted from total dividend income, provided it exceeds Rs. 10 Lakh. No tax is applied on such dividend returns if the total value of the same is under Rs. 10 lakh, respectively.
Long term capital gains tax is also levied on total returns generated through the sale of small and mid-cap securities at a rate of 10%. Such tax rates are only levied if the holding period of the stock or mutual fund exceeds one year.
Where To Buy Long
Long-term stocks need to be free of the high volatility that comes with trading on over-the-counter markets. Its also important to be able to receive trustworthy business reports to ensure a company has been seeing growth for a period of time.
As a result, markets like NASDAQ and the NYSE are best for locating options for long-term gains. The best platforms for searching the major exchanges are Robinhood and Webull.
Robinhood provides users with a simple interface and no-nonsense tools, making for quick entry into trading. Webull provides traders with more complex tools that scrub the top markets for hidden gems.
Best of all, both these tools avoid commission fees that you can find with other platforms.
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What Is A Short
Making a short-term investment generally means you plan to access the money in three years or less. Ideally, the investment method you choose should shield your money from losing value in such a short time. That typically means there’s a trade-off: Your money will be safer, but you won’t see as much growth as a riskier investment vehicle might provide.
Examples of short-term investments include anything highly liquidin other words, investments you can cash in easily. That can include traditional or high-yield savings accounts, U.S. Treasury bills , money market accounts and short-term certificates of deposit . Bonds can also come with maturity dates of one to three years.
Especially in a low interest rate environment, your potential returns on a short-term investment may only serve to minimize losses due to inflation. As of early 2022, for example, interest rates on three-year CDs rarely topped 1.10%. But that’s still better than keeping your money stashed in cash at home or in a savings account that pays an average 0.06% interest, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation , for example.
It Can Survive When Times Are Tough
Without a doubt, there are times when storms will arrive in the market. Often, these storms will provide no warning before showing up and wreaking havoc on your bottom line. The market is marred and shaped by ups and downs, and those that stand to win the most are those that invest in these extremes.
One way to protect against this risk is to shift how you invest to focus on companies that are strong enough to survive even the darkest days. They should be able to maintain prices to some extent without having to issue stock at deep discounts.
These types of stocks might grow a little on the slow side, or provide a mere fraction of the thrill you might get from others, but you’ll be glad you put your trust in them when the maelstrom is raging all around you.
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What Is Considered Long
As far as capital gains taxes are concerned, you’re considered a long-term investor once you’ve held a stock for more than a year. In casual conversation, these terms are somewhat fluid, since investing styles vary. A day trader’s sense of long-term and short-term won’t align with that of someone investing in a retirement account.
The Balance does not provide tax, investment, or financial services and advice. The information is being presented without consideration of the investment objectives, risk tolerance, or financial circumstances of any specific investor and might not be suitable for all investors. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal.
An Early Start Could Mean More Dividends
Investors often try to wait for the right time to start putting money into the stock market. But the longer they delay their investing, the longer theyre missing out on company dividends.
Dividends are not to be underestimated. These individual payouts might seem small, especially when youve been investing for only a few years, but more than 40% of the historical gains in the S& P 500 have come from dividends.2
As an investor, you can choose to cash in your dividends as soon as theyre available, or you can opt to reinvest your dividends back into the market, manually or automatically.
Historically, a large share of the stock markets gains and losses occur in just a few days of any given year. Since the pattern of returns isnt predictable from month to month, a consistent investment can add to your bottom line.
Automatic dividend reinvestment expands your portfolio with minimal effort on your part. As you reinvest your dividend payouts, youll purchase additional shares that earn additional dividends. In other words, dividend reinvestment can help you leverage the magic of compound returns. Accumulating dividends can add significant value to your portfolio.
Still, its important to understand two potential downsides to automatic dividend reinvestment.
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Mutual Funds Vs Etfs: Similarities And Differences
Mutual funds remain top dog in terms of total assets, thanks to their prominence in retirement plans such as 401s. U.S. mutual funds had around $23.9 trillion, at the end of 2020, compared to $5.4 trillion in ETFs, according to the Investment Company Institute. But ETFs have been growing quickly in the last decade, as investors are drawn by their low fees and ease of trading.
Both types of funds allow you to invest in a diversified portfolio by buying just one security. For example, you can buy an index fund based on the Standard & Poors 500 Index of top American companies as either a mutual fund or an ETF. Or you could buy a portfolio of bonds with either. Some funds allow you to buy gold or all the companies in a certain industry, for example.
Investors Are Poor Market Timers
Let’s face it, we’re not as calm and rational as we claim to be. In fact, one of the inherent flaws in investor behavior is the tendency to be emotional. Many individuals claim to be long-term investors until the stock market begins falling, which is when they tend to withdraw their money to avoid additional losses.
Many investors fail to remain invested in stocks when a rebound occurs. In fact, they tend to jump back in only when most of the gains have already been achieved. This type of buy high, sell low behavior tends to cripple investor returns.
According to Dalbar’s Quantitative Analysis of Investor Behavior study, the S& P 500 had an average annual return of just over 6% during the 20-year period ending Dec. 31, 2019. During the same time frame, the average investor experienced an average annual return of about 2.5%.
There are a few reasons why this happens. Here are just a couple of them:
Investors who pay too much attention to the stock market tend to handicap their chances of success by trying to time the market too frequently. A simple long-term buy-and-hold strategy would have yielded far better results.
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Worried About Stocks Why Long
We are living in a time of extreme uncertainty and the anxiety that comes along with it. Against the backdrop of war, humanitarian crisis, and economic hardship, its natural to wonder what effect these world events will have on our long-term investment performance.
While these challenges certainly warrant our attention and deep concern, they dont have to be a reason to panic about markets when youre focused on long-term investing.
Imagine its 25 years ago, 1997:
- J.K. Rowling just published the first Harry Potter book.
- General Motors is releasing the EV1, an electric car with a range of 60 miles.
- The internet is in its infancy, Y2K looms, and everyone is worried about the Russian financial crisis.
A stranger offers to tell you whats going to happen over the course of the next 25 years. Heres the big question: Would you invest in the stock market knowing the following events were going to happen? And could you stay invested?
- Asian contagion
- Global pandemic
- Second Russian default
With everything I just mentioned, what would you have done? Gotten into the market? Gotten out? Increased your equity holdings? Decreased them?
Well, lets look at what happened.
From January of 1997 to December of 2021, the US stock market returned, on average, 9.8% a year.1
A dollar invested at the beginning of the period would be worth about $10.25 at the end of the period.2
Footnotes
Disclosures
UNITED STATES
Get Started Through Lump Sum Investing Or Dollar Cost Averaging
There are generally two buy-and-hold investing options. You can choose to buy your investments all at once or begin an investment schedule .
- Lump sum investing is exactly what it sounds like. If you have a lump sum to invest, you can invest it all at once. A lump sum approach requires you to have a larger sum of money to invest. You may receive a lump sum of cash through the sale of a family business, sale of company stock, inheritance, proceeds from an insurance policy, or by other means.The sooner you invest your sum of money, the sooner you begin earning returns, especially, in this case, compound returns.
Oftentimes, emotions can sabotage a buy-and-hold, long-term investment strategy. Overconfidence might lead you to trade too frequently while fear of loss might cause you to hang on to investments that no longer support your goals or earn a sustainable return. However, when you invest more regularly and focus on the long-term, you can feel confident that youre steadily working toward your goals.
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Lower Capital Gains Tax Rate
Profits that result from the sale of any capital assets end up in a capital gain. This includes any personal assets, such as furniture, or investments like stocks, bonds, and real estate.
An investor who sells a security within one calendar year of buying it gets any gains taxed as ordinary income. These are referred to as short-term capital gains. Depending on the individual’s adjusted gross income , this tax rate could be as high as 37%.
Any securities that are sold after being held for more than a year result in long-term capital gains. The gains are taxed at a maximum rate of just 20%. Investors in lower tax brackets may even qualify for a 0% long-term capital gains tax rate.
Which Stocks Are Risky Long
Just as there are stocks which are good for a long-term investment portfolio, there are some which come with an increased risk that you might want to rethink as you build a long-term portfolio.
These investments that should be avoided are typically those that offer little reward for their high level of risk. That, or its just too difficult to judge their long-term performance.
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Commissions And Minimum Purchases
In the category of commissions, ETF investors are real winners. The big-name brokerages have slashed commissions to zero on all ETFs offered on their site. So it wont cost you anything to trade these funds, though some brokers may impose an early redemption fee. Thats a huge boon for investors, especially if you like to dollar-cost average on your purchases.
But thats not the case for mutual funds, where some still charge sales commissions that might run you one or two percent of your money but sometimes even more. Fortunately, many good mutual funds no longer charge these fees, and its relatively easy to avoid them. You should avoid these fees, since they enrich the fund-management firm at the expense of your returns.
And brokerages may also charge you a fee for trading mutual funds some may run nearly $50 per trade though the best brokers offer many funds without a trading commission at all.
As for a minimum purchase amount, ETFs often have an advantage here, too. Usually a broker may require you to buy at least one share of a fund in order to make a purchase, though these days many brokerages allow you to buy fractional shares. Even if you have to buy a full share, that might cost you as little as $20 up to perhaps $250, still a relatively small amount.
Investing Is A Marathon
We all invest to achieve the same common goal were aiming to increase our wealth so we can do more with our money. However, we dont all go about investing in the same way.
Investors can be broadly split into two main groups short-term and long-term investors.
Short termers tend to get itchy feet. They regularly chop and change their investments based on the latest market news or trends, with the aim to profit on short-term changes to share prices. Short-term investing time horizons can range from a few days, up to a few months.
Whereas long termers ignore the short-term market hustle and bustle and tend not to worry about what happens to share prices today or tomorrow. Instead, long-term investors look further afield backing companies with the potential to grow over the next 5 – 10 years. We think this is the best approach to take.
One of the all-time great investors, Benjamin Graham, sums it up quite nicely In the short run, the market is a voting machine, but in the long-run it is a weighing machine.
What Graham means by this quote is that stock markets in the short-term ebb and flow based on peoples emotion and market sentiment. But over the long-term, the truly great companies show their value.
Neither approach to investing is necessarily the wrong one both can achieve the same common goal. But history has shown us that investing is a marathon and slow and steady wins the race.
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Why Are Faang Stocks So Popular
FAANG stocks are popular for a number of reasons, perhaps the most important being their strong record of growth and their potential future growth. Their total value is in the trillions of dollars, and many investors have at least a tiny portion of these companies in their portfolio by virtue of owning an exchange-traded fund or mutual fund, where these are popular holdings.
Best Types Of Stocks To Hold For The Long
There are several things to consider when you want to purchase stocks. Consider your age, risk tolerance, and investment goals, among other things. Having a handle on all of this can help you figure out the kind of equity portfolio you can create in order to meet your goals. Here’s a general guide you can follow as a starting point that you can tailor to your own situation:
- Choose index funds. These are ETFs that track specific indexes, such as the S& P 500 or the Russell 1000, and trade just like stocks. But unlike stocks, these funds come with a lower cost and you won’t have to pick and choose specific companies in which to invest. Index funds give you similar returns to the indexes they track.
- Consider dividend-paying stocks. These types of stocks can help add value to your portfolio, especially when dividends are reinvested.
- Companies with high growth can boost your portfolio. Growth stocks tend to be associated with companies that are able to generate a significantly high revenue at a faster rate than others. They are also better equipped to deliver strong earnings reports. Keep in mind, though, that this degree of growth comes with a higher level of risk, so you’ll have to be a little savvier than novice investors if you want to go this route.
As always, it’s a good idea to consult with a financial professional, especially if you’re new to the investment world.
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