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Some Risks Are Not Worth Taking

May 21st, 2008 at 07:40am Tracy Beard

beard-tracy-s.jpg  Tracy S. Beard, CFP® 

Effective portfolio management utilizes risk to capture market returns.  While we may not enjoy the fluctuation of the market, without it we would have to settle for the low returns generated from CD and cash based investments.  For many of us, low returns combined with the impact of taxes and inflation could cause us to spend our entire lifetime working.  So is the secret to higher returns found in taking more risk?  The answer is yes, but only to a limited extent. Some risks are clearly not worth taking. Often a prospective client will present a portfolio that is concentrated in only a few stock holdings. One question emerges… Is the expected return for holding one stock higher than if you owned 2,000 stocks?  Most would agree the expected return is not higher for holding just one stock. However, the risk is substantially higher.  This can be confirmed by questioning anyone that owned Bear Stearns or Enron.  There are a number of strategies investors may consider to reduce their concentrated stock holdings.  Since the prevailing reason that clients hold concentrated stocks is to avoid the recognition of the gains (paying taxes), many are aimed at reducing the impact of the taxes.

Options to Reduce Concentrated Stock Holdings 

  • Complete sale: Incur the tax and diversify to reduce risk.  This is the quickest method to diversify.  However, if the assets are not in an IRA it also requires recognition of gain (you will have to pay the tax man).
  • Give some of the shares in kind to a charity:  If you are already giving money to a charity, you can gift them the shares of the stock.  Since the charity is a non-profit organization, they can sell the shares and avoid the tax.
  • Create a Charitable Remainder Trust (CRUT).  With a CRUT, you create an irrevocable trust.  The shares of the stock are used to fund the trust.  Once the shares are in the trust, the trustee can sell them.  The trust will then pay you an income for a set period of time.  The gain is not avoided since you pay tax on the distribution from the trust.  However, you can spread the tax out over a longer period of time.  At the end of the term of the trust, the charity gets the remaining balance in the trust.
  • Sell portions over a set number of years to spread out the tax recognition (i.e. 3 year plan)

Note:  Be careful when selling assets if the owner is in poor health.  In many cases, if a person passes away holding a highly appreciated stock, the gain is eliminated.  This is referred to as the step-up in basis rule. 

Disclaimer: Planning related to concentrated stocks is very complicated.  The above examples are for illustrative purposes only.  They do not reflect all of the options or all of the tax implications for investors.  Please consult your financial/legal/tax professional when considering any planning strategies for concentrated stocks. 

Entry Filed under: Financial Planning, Investments

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