Selling Fund with Tax Loss
I'm 99% sure I know the correct answer to this question, but need a little help with the emotional component of the decision.
In 1985, I was finally earning enough that I had money to invest beyond maxing out my 401K. My dad helped me pick out a couple of mutual funds. One of them, Acorn (ACRNX), I decided I liked a lot and continued investing in it until 2000, when I realized that putting more $$ into an actively managed fund that throws off significant distributions creates all kinds of tax hassles. So I started taking all of the distributions in cash and investing them more tax-efficiently in 2007 (later using them to live on after we retired).
Between a huge distribution in December (30+%) and the market downturn this month, the current value is slightly less than my cost basis (I have a mega-spreadsheet that includes all the reinvested distributions over the years). The tax loss isn't huge, but would give me some space for more Roth conversion this year.
Intellectually, I know I should sell it (it's 6-figures so not a trivial amount). But after 30 years, and excellent returns, it makes me sad to think about not continuing to have this investment that my late father helped me pick.
Interested to hear how others have handled such a situation.
__________________
"One of the funny things about the stock market is that every time one person buys, another sells, and both think they are astute." William Feather
----------------------------------
ER'd Oct. 2010 at 53. Life is good.
|