
For that slice of your portfolio that you enjoy stock picking with, which account do you prefer to use? Taxable or Tax Advantaged? There are two main schools of thought:
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Always put your stock picks in Tax Advantaged. The reasoning is because if you are bullish on a stock, you want all of that upside growth to be free of any tax friction when you go to trim or rebalance. This is especially advantageous inside a ROTH, where all gains, even 10x or 100x are completely and forever tax free.
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Always put your stock picks in Taxable. The logic here is that if you happen to be wrong about your picks, you can deduct your losses against your gains in a taxable account. The other benefit is you protect your precious and limited contributions to your tax advantaged accounts.
Personally, I prefer to put the stock picks in my tax advantaged accounts, particularly the roth ira. I feel that if you are bullish on a stock, why put it in a taxable, as that is already accepting a losing mentality. If that is the case, you are better off just staying away from individual stock picks, and sticking with broad market index funds.