Liquidating Investments During COVID-19? Don't Make This 1 Mistake

The COVID-19 crisis has spurred a full-blown recession that's left countless Americans grappling with income insecurity. If you're in a financial crunch due to the pandemic and you have investments in a brokerage account, you may be thinking of cashing some out to put money in your pocket to pay the bills. This especially holds true if you're holding investments that haven't lost value since the pandemic began.

Back in March, the stock market crashed in a very big way as COVID-19 became an increasingly dangerous threat. But while that threat still exists, the market has somehow managed to recover since March, to the point where liquidating investments won't necessarily mean locking in losses. Quite the contrary -- some of your investments may be trading higher than they were when you first bought them, leaving you with a profit on your hands. But if you're going to cash those out, make sure you've held them for at least a year and a day first. Otherwise, you could have a tax nightmare on your hands.

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Source Fool.com