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I bought Apple stocks so I can use gains to buy an M1 laptop
- Thread starter senttoschool
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Yea, capital gains tax makes selling not appealing for a while. I'll just use cash but at least I know I own a piece of Apple when I will be buying so many Apple Silicon Macs, some of them for family as gift.
Bought some more when Apple went down. Approaching Pro XDR Display territory (without the stand).
It's been an okay ride so far. I have a bunch of other positions that are doing a lot better percentage-wise. They are generally beaten-down retailers.
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Wise move!
I received 3 shares back in 2007 as a gift when I was 14. Those are now 84 shares. Wish I would have bought more!
Just make sure to be mentally prepared if (when) a market correction appears. It’s not always smooth sailing, and like we saw a year ago, there will be days when you’ll see the market drop 5 - 10 % in a day. That’s when you will be challenged and need to stay committed to your strategy. Always think long term.
Also, remember that a 20 % drop, requires a 25 % increase, so the way back to where you started can be longer.
I received 3 shares back in 2007 as a gift when I was 14. Those are now 84 shares. Wish I would have bought more!
Just make sure to be mentally prepared if (when) a market correction appears. It’s not always smooth sailing, and like we saw a year ago, there will be days when you’ll see the market drop 5 - 10 % in a day. That’s when you will be challenged and need to stay committed to your strategy. Always think long term.
Also, remember that a 20 % drop, requires a 25 % increase, so the way back to where you started can be longer.
There was a 20% drop in the last 3 months. So I'm used to it. This is a long-term investment for sure. I totally believe in Apple's hardware + software magic. The combination seems unbeatable.
I have been long in Apple and MSFT since the 90s. TSLA since 2013 or so. It is been great with large returns. Where available, I use dividend reinvestments to automatically increase the number of shares each quarter and buy additional with my bonuses.
Neither does the OP. He/she seems to be uninformed that the market has a LOT of ups and downs, plus the unavoidable capital gains tax. To buy Apple stocks with the mindset of using the "gains" to buy Apple products is a bit naive. If it was just that simple everyone would do it. It could be a very long time before any real gains are enough to buy a Mac, let alone the OP would end up paying more for his/her Macs due to the capital gains tax. Anyone could buy stocks for any reason they want but unless they are Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk who can afford to be a high-stakes day trader it's best to go at buying stocks as a long-term investment and not to expect any real immediate gains.
Not sure I would call it naive, but expensive, and not a good strategy for a blue-chip like Apple which will likely to continue to go up over the long term.
The issue of taxes is very big for individuals. And the short-term capital gains penalty (paying a max of 37% on gains versus a max of 20%) makes buying and selling in under a year expensive. I occasionally do it, ex. when Bear Sterns went bankrupt, 60% gain in 2 days. But, I am more a buy-and-hold person focused on buying high-quality stocks and holding them for a long time. The market has proven for decades that a person can do quite well with a little patience and nerve.
Agreed, naive might have been a bit of a stretch but the OP's original post basically states, "I found an easy way to make money to buy Apple products..." I certainly wish the stock market was that cut n' dry.
Absolutely! It requires patience along with careful money management. It's kind of like a poker game. You've gotta know when to hold em and know when to fold em. I have a great deal of Tesla stock and lately it's been down way more times than up. Even after Tesla's stock price was recently upgraded it finished up the end of the week at less than $1 USD gains. I would be "naive" to think I would get rich quick just because Tesla is an expensive stock and recently upgraded. It's just not that simple.
My stocks are for my long-term investment. Buying stocks just to buy tech that has a short lifespan is not really the best idea especially with the capital gains taxes.
Don’t worry, if a market correction is big enough the US govt will print enough money to make sure stocks only go up.
Seems a bit bizzare to accuse me of not knowing what I'm doing. I've been investing for 15 years and I hold citizenship in two countries: one that I have to pay capital gains tax and one that does not have that requirement.
Apple Silicon Macs gave me an epiphany that Apple's hardware + software combination is nearly unbeatable. I expect Apple to start making everything from smart cars to smart toasters in the next 10-20 years with this formula. I'm in for Apple long-term.
Have you ever watched the Pixar movie Wall-E? In that movie, one corporation makes everything for the world. Apple has a decent chance to be that company for the rich. Maybe Amazon for the poor.
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Not bizarre. Based on your thread title alone and your initial post none of it explains that you have any experience dealing with the market. You didn't mention that you were aware of the capital gains tax or that you were a long-time market investor. Your thread title:
"I bought Apple stocks so I can use gains to buy an M1 laptop"
Your post states (I'm paraphrasing) "I found an easy get rich quick scheme to buy Apple products". Since the market takes several months to years to get any real gains your thread title and first post are easy to suggest that you're not experienced with the market. Also since the M1's were just introduced a few short months ago to say that you bought stocks to buy Apple's latest product does give the impression that you might be thinking that you can make instant money. It may not seem that way to you but that's how your initial post and thread title comes across.But thank you for clarifying everything and it was not my intention to offend you.
FWIW, Barron just published a rumor that Apple is increasing their dividend by 10%. APPL just keeps on giving!
Apple stock has done well for me since I started in 2013. Stock is in my IRA, so I only take what little I need to supplement my Social Security. Never enough to pay any taxes. Wish I had the money to buy more. Have over 300 shares now. Waiting for new iMac, that's about the only piece I need. Got the 12 Pro, AW SS Gold, ATV, & HomePod. Can't justify a tablet.
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Stocks go bankrupt. And stocks go down. The $COMPQ dropped 90% in the tech crash. Buy and hold? Sure, you got back to even after 17 years but why wouldn't you sell before the crash and then buy when things started climbing back out? Even better would have been selling in 2000, then shorting and then covering in 2001.
I don't understand taking a loss on a position to reduce your taxes. Paying a lot of taxes is a sign that you're trading is going well.
Why would you mention the capital gains issue at all? Professional daytraders view it as a cost of doing business. No need to talk about it as it is assumed.
No doubt that would have been a better strategy, but it assumes you knew the future. Compaq was at one time one of the biggest computer companies and even bought huge manufacturers. Now they are gone.
I never took a loss on my position to reduce taxes. I try to pick companies that I feel will be around for a while and am not interested in trying to make a quick profit. I am a huge believer in getting rich slowly and it was worked out for the last 25+ years that I have been trading. I still have shares of Apple and Microsoft from the 90s and Tesla from 2012 or so. Apple was around $12 or $13 back then and has appreciated just a bit.
I work very hard on predicting the future and make my money on short-term and intermediate-term trades. I'm always looking to make a quick profit. It's worked out quite well for us.
I don't have enough patience to deal with that and do not find trading all that interesting. As long as what I have continues to beat the indices (overall and sectors) I am OK with it. It is hard enough running our company and staring at our books, deals, and yields.
You have your job and I have mine. It takes all kinds to make a market.