According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, the value of tax-loss harvesting is quite impressive. Tax loss harvesting is basically managing long and short term gains to the investors advantage. Using someone in the 25% income tax bracket, their studies show that in a strong market, managing taxable gains and losses can add 1.1 to 1.42% to annual returns. Even more impressive, during significant downturns when the S&P is negative, this harvesting can add about 3.21% to yearly performance. So whether the market has been naughty or nice, tax management can be a gift to returns.
