Investment Tax Optimization Workbook: Harvesting Losses and Building an Efficient Portfolio

Reading about tax-loss harvesting is straightforward; doing it correctly — without triggering wash sale disallowances, without disrupting your target allocation, and at the right time of year — is where most investors stumble. This workbook course provides the step-by-step process and the templates to get it right. By the end of this course you will be able to identify loss-harvesting candidates in your portfolio using a structured screening checklist, execute a harvest while selecting a suitable substitute security that avoids the wash sale rule, calculate the net tax benefit of a proposed harvest, evaluate mutual funds and ETFs on tax-efficiency metrics, and build a simple asset-location plan that assigns each holding to the most appropriate account type. What you will learn: - Step-by-step loss-harvesting checklist: screening, timing, substitute security selection, and record-keeping - Wash sale rule applied: worked examples of permissible and impermissible substitute securities - Calculating the tax benefit of a harvest: a worksheet with realistic numbers and tax rate assumptions - Tax-efficiency metrics for funds: expense ratio, turnover rate, tax-cost ratio, and how to find them - Asset location framework: a template for assigning bonds, REITs, and growth equities to the right accounts - Coordinating harvesting with rebalancing so you are not creating unnecessary taxable events - Year-end review checklist: gains, losses, distributions, and actions to take before December 31 - Tracking your cost basis: a record-keeping template compatible with common brokerage statements Each module introduces a concept through a short reading and then walks through a worked case study involving a sample portfolio at a specific point in the year. You apply the process to the case and then use the same template with your own numbers. The workbook culminates in a portfolio tax-efficiency audit worksheet. This course is designed for individuals who already have taxable investment accounts and want a repeatable process for reducing their annual tax drag. Suitable for those who are new to tax-loss harvesting or who have attempted it without a clear system. This course is informational and educational; it does not substitute for advice from a licensed financial or tax professional.