Gyroscopic Investing

I recently purchased some GLD and, as you know, it has dropped considerably. Any ideas on how to possibly lock in the loss for my taxes and purchase something that would not trigger the U.S. 30 day wash rule?

I think if you were to go into an etf with different traits in how it owns gold, or physical gold itself, you could argue it's a substantially different security, especially in today's environment of fraud.

This is a very under-tested area of the tax code.  The IRS isn't very aggressive in this area.  Take from that what you will.

This might help http://solari.com/articles/Tax_Issues_r ... s_Holdings has good coverage of various swaps, specifically in exchange for physical but good coverage of the legals

Interesting article! Thank you for that. Would you say that GLD and PHYS would be considered like-types?

I'm not sure how the tax authorities would view them. They are similar in that they are a share in underlying gold but GLD is an open ended fund whereas PHYS is a closed end fund. This could make them non-like types.

GTU?  It is a closed-end fund, and its structure is quite unlike the gold ETFs.

CEF holds a mix of gold and silver (50:50) I think.  That should not trigger a wash sale.

All closed-end funds have premium-discount issues, though.

Reub wrote: I recently purchased some GLD and, as you know, it has dropped considerably. Any ideas on how to possibly lock in the loss for my taxes and purchase something similar that would not trigger the U.S. 30 day wash rule? Would something like PTM, PPLT or GLTR do the trick? Would SGOL qualify?

I think this would be a good time to switch and buy GTU. Right now the premium is low. You have to understand how the Canadian closed end funds work and the paper work involved to see if it is the right investment for you. There are advantages and disadvantages, once you understand them you could decide.

Okay. GTU it is. It is showing a negative premium of around -1.3% so I guess that's a good thing! Thanks again!