selling stock

[earlybird]

Ok, so I think I'm getting the message.. .. sell some (a lot) of our oil stock and get into something like a Vanguard. New question:

If we sell $500,000 worth of shares....... we will end up paying about $250,000 taxes. Is there a way to sell it and move it and reinvest it without paying the tax? Does it have to go into an IRA if we dont' want to pay tax?

Again... now you realize you are working with a financial idiot :

 

[wildcat]

eb-

As far as I know any time you sell stock for a gain it will be taxed unless the stock is held in some sort of tax def. account. And If you sell in tax def. account and do a rollover then you can delay taxes. We do have some accounting types around the forum.

So I'm curious, how much is the food bill for your bears Newfies? We had a lab and I thought that breed had a huge appetite.

 

[brewer12345]

Ok, so I think I'm getting the message..        .. sell some (a lot) of our oil stock and get into something like a Vanguard.  New question:

If we sell $500,000 worth of shares....... we will end up paying about $250,000 taxes.  Is there a way to sell it and move it and reinvest it without paying the tax?  Does it have to go into an IRA if we dont' want to pay tax? 

Again... now you realize you are working with a financial idiot   : 

I suspect you are overestimating the tax bill. Is this actual stock, or stock options? Actual stock is easy if you have held it for at least a year: you pay 15% of your gain (not the total amount it is worth) in federal taxes plus whatever your state tax is. Stock options can be a little more complicated. Maybe someone who has been down this road can comment on taxation of employee stock options?

 

[earlybird]

Brewer....... it's stock options..........   

Wildcat, the newfs don't really eat more than our golden retrievers did once they grew up.  As a pup, they 'll eat your leg if there's not enough food on their table.  Once adults, they only eat three cups a day each, but for health reasons, you can't feed them good ole cheap purina to them either.  Our huge expense with them is medical.  You pay more for meds, pay more for anesthesia, they are notorious for orthopedic issues - of which we have had our share at $2000 a pop.... I'd say after spending $1500 to $2000 to purchase each dog, that was the bargain part of their expense.  But.... we wouldn't trade them for anything.

 

[bruce1]

eb-

So I'm curious, how much is the food bill for your bears Newfies?  We had a lab and I thought that breed had a huge appetite.     

My cousins lab eats twice what my Saint does.

Bruce

 

[JohnP]

earlybird -

Diversifying is good!  If you are going to do it set up a plan;  it took you 25-30 years to get here, you had reasons for what you did, respect those reasons and plan out your initial 'intentions' from here through retirement,  then look at the 'options' you have, and then consider 'actions' to take. 

One of the painless options for diversification involves the 401k which can apparently be changes to something other than oil stocks without a taxable event.  From your writing, this would diversify approximately 40% of the situation in one fell swoop.  See your Human Resources people for the options. 

More painful options exist relative to the stock options;  you may want to talk to a tax professional about this as to how to minimize the taxes while accomplishing the desired diversification.  I'd think that you should consider this step at some leisure after diversifying the 401k. 

JohnP

 

[Martha]

I echo what JohnP says. If you want to read up on how stock options are taxed, see IRS Publication 525. You can find it on the IRS website at www.irs.gov. I would post the link directly, but am having trouble with my slow internet connection.

 

[Mr._johngalt]

My cousins lab eats twice what my Saint does.

Bruce

My lab will eat anything that doesn't eat her first

JG

 

[Mr._johngalt]

Brewer....... it's stock options..........   

Wildcat, the newfs don't really eat more than our golden retrievers did once they grew up.  As a pup, they 'll eat your leg if there's not enough food on their table.  Once adults, they only eat three cups a day each, but for health reasons, you can't feed them good ole cheap purina to them either.  Our huge expense with them is medical.  You pay more for meds, pay more for anesthesia, they are notorious for orthopedic issues - of which we have had our share at $2000 a pop.... I'd say after spending $1500 to $2000 to purchase each dog, that was the bargain part of their expense.  But.... we wouldn't trade them for anything.

I paid about $350 for my AKC lab in 1998. I love the dog.
I paid too much.

JG

 

[tryan]

If we sell $500,000 worth of shares....... we will end up paying about $250,000 taxes.

An accountant will be worth the investment for more precise numbers.

My guess is you'll pay 15% on some then the ALT MIN tax will kick-in and you'll pay more (ordinary income rates ... 28%?). But the most the feds will take is 38%. Then there's the states piece ...

Might be worth selling just enough to kick in the ALT MIN every year until you're diversified. This will take years ... but if either of you is a hard sell on selling this would ease the concern .... kind of like dollar cost averaging out.

 

[KB]

The company that gave you the stock options might have instructions on how to sell and how to deal with your taxes. That would be useful info along with the IRS info Martha suggested.

The company that gave me stock options gave us all the tax info on how to file after selling the options. It was still confusing but gave us all a place to start.