Permalink
Cannot retrieve contributors at this time
This commit does not belong to any branch on this repository, and may belong to a fork outside of the repository.
136 lines (130 sloc)
12.6 KB
This file contains bidirectional Unicode text that may be interpreted or compiled differently than what appears below. To review, open the file in an editor that reveals hidden Unicode characters.
Learn more about bidirectional Unicode characters
| <!-- include page header --> | |
| <html> | |
| <head> | |
| <meta HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" Content="text-html; charset=Windows-1252"> | |
| <LINK REL="stylesheet" HREF="gk_style.css" TYPE="text/css"> | |
| </head> | |
| <title>FAQs</title> | |
| <script> | |
| <!-- | |
| function checkHead() | |
| { | |
| var frm = parent.frames.abtop; | |
| if( frm != null) | |
| frm.tabClick(11); | |
| } | |
| //--> | |
| </script> | |
| <body topmargin="0px" marginheight="0px" leftmargin="0px" marginwidth="0px" LINK="#48617f" VLINK="#48617f" onload="checkHead();"> | |
| <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" height="100%"> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td bgcolor="#003366" valign="top" height="100%"><img width="58px" src="shared/bb68x17.gif"></td> | |
| <td valign="top" width="100%"> | |
| <span class="pageheader">GAINSKEEPER FAQ’s</span><hr> | |
| <table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td> | |
| <span class="note1b">What is GainsTracker?</span><br> | |
| <span class="note1"> | |
| GainsTracker is a new way for investors to track their investment portfolios over the Internet. GainsKeeper's record-keeping service interacts with investors like many of today's online portfolio trackers; however, unlike those tools, we offer a <i>service</i> that actively monitors subscriber's holdings, adjusting for market changes and trading activity that affect the tax basis of their holdings. Also, unlike ordinary trackers, we continue to monitor holdings after they have been sold, so that we can provide our subscribers with a summary of their gains and losses, characterized for tax filing purposes. The result is a Schedule D attachment with the click of a mouse. | |
| </span> | |
| <br><br> | |
| <span class="note1b">What is GainsTracker Pro?</span><br> | |
| <span class="note1"> | |
| GainsKeeper's Professional Edition of GainsTracker offers CPAs, CFPs and other finance and taxation professionals a powerful portfolio management and tax preparation tool. GainsTracker Pro encapsulates all the standard features of GainsTracker, but only GainsTracker Pro allows professionals to aggregate multiple "client portfolios" under one GainsTracker Pro Login ID. Professionals can use GainsTracker Pro to create and maintain individual client accounts, to link existing GainsTracker accounts when adding new clients, to review and analyze client portfolios for accurate portfolio management and to prepare individual Gain/Loss Reports specific to a client's tax filing needs. | |
| </span> | |
| <br><br> | |
| <span class="note1b">Who needs GainsTracker?</span><br> | |
| <span class="note1"> | |
| GainsTracker is designed for both savvy and novice stock investors. Buy and hold investors will benefit from the automatic corporate action adjustments. Active traders will be relieved from tracking wash sales. Novice investors will learn how to minimize the tax implications of their trades. All investors will enjoy relief from the tedium of personal finance accounting. Subscribe to GainsKeeper's service now, and you will be able to generate a personalized 2000 Gain/Loss Schedule D attachment at year's end for 2000 tax filing. All without the use of an accountant! | |
| </span> | |
| <br><br> | |
| <span class="note1b">How much does GainsTracker cost?</span><br> | |
| <span class="note1"> | |
| GainsKeeper's service costs only $35 per year! We recommend you register for our 15-day trial period by clicking on "Open a New Account" on the homepage. This trial period will allow you to evaluate the full functionality of GainsKeeper's basic service - FREE of charge! Because of our earlier promotion, if you opened your GK Account before 6/1/00, you are eligible to receive GainsKeeper's service free of charge until 4/16/01 to cover your year 2000 Schedule D tax filing. | |
| <br><br> | |
| <span class="note1b">What’s a "corporate action"?</span><br> | |
| <span class="note1"> | |
| A corporate action is essentially any material change to a security. This can be as simple as a name change, dividend or a stock split; but also includes reverse splits, mergers, spin-offs, and liquidations. In many cases, a corporate action will result in a new position or a change to the cost basis of a security. GainsKeeper monitors all corporate actions to U.S. equities, notifies users of affected holdings, and automatically adjusts each position. We relieve users of these headaches so they can better focus on investing. | |
| </span> | |
| <br><br> | |
| <span class="note1b">What’s a wash sale?</span><br> | |
| <span class="note1"> | |
| GainsTracker automatically handles wash sales. A wash sale is trading activity in which you sell shares of a security at a loss and within 30 days you purchase a substantially identical security. The wash sale rule under Section 1091 of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) is intended to prevent investors from generating and recognizing artificial losses in situations where they do not intend to reduce their holdings in the securities that are sold. In the event of a wash sale, the loss must be deferred on a pro rata basis by adding it to the cost basis of the new purchase. For purposes of Sec. 1091, wash sales occur when: <br><br> | |
| 1. An investor realizes a loss on the sale of a security, and<br> | |
| 2. The investor acquires a "substantially identical" security within a 61-day "window" that extends from 30 days before the date of sale to 30 days after the date of sale. <br><br> | |
| <b>Note</b>:   If you sell a stock and your spouse or a corporation you control buys a substantially identical | |
| stock, you also have a wash sale. In these cases, the IRC states that losses from the sale of stock can not be recognized at the time of | |
| sale, but must be deferred instead. If you track your spouse's holdings in GainsTracker and a loss is disallowed under the wash sale rule, GainsKeeper automatically | |
| increases the cost basis of the newly acquired security (that causes the "nonrecognition") to reflect the | |
| disallowance. This adjustment effectively defers the loss until the investor sells the newly acquired | |
| security, at which time the loss can be recognized. You can avoid a wash sale by purchasing a similar security, rather | |
| than an identical stock, to the one you sold for a loss. For example, if you sold AltaVista for a loss and | |
| you were interested in investing in another search engine stock, then you could buy Yahoo! within the 30 day window | |
| and not qualify for a wash sale. | |
| <br> | |
| <br> | |
| The good news is that GainsTracker monitors and automatically adjusts for wash sales activity that affect the cost basis | |
| of your investments which should help keep you out of trouble with the IRS. | |
| GainsKeeper's definition of "substantially identical" securities is consistant with the IRC | |
| and includes options and convertible bonds. Because preferred stock of a corporation generally provides owners with different rights and benefits, the IRC does not consider | |
| it to be substantially identical. | |
| <br><br> | |
| <span class="note1b">Does GainsTracker handle short sales and options?</span><br> | |
| <span class="note1"> | |
| GainsTracker does not handle short sales or options. We recognize the need for this functionality and are developing the necessary logic to process this type of trading activity. The enhancements are expected to be ready in the 4th quarter. | |
| <br><br> | |
| <span class="note1b">Portfolio trackers are a dime a dozen. Why is GainsTracker any different?</span><br> | |
| <span class="note1"> | |
| Many investors haven't even thought about the need for a cost basis solution, but once they have GainsTracker there's no going back to yesterday's inferior trackers. Ordinary portfolio trackers are little more than glorified watch lists. Investors must manually adjust for all transactions and corporate actions. In addition, investors must keep track of all gains and losses, taking the time to characterize holding periods and determine any wash sales. Only GainsTracker automatically adjusts each portfolio for corporate actions, gains and losses, and wash sales. The world's first "smart" portfolio tracker, GainsTracker, is backed by GainsKeeper's security and taxation experts, whose job is to remove the administrative burden of investing. | |
| </span> | |
| <br><br> | |
| <span class="note1b">Doesn’t Quicken or MS Money offer this same service?</span><br> | |
| <span class="note1">No. Shrink-wrapped software, such as Quicken and Microsoft Money, require substantial effort on the part of the investor to update and synchronize their portfolios. More importantly, they do not automatically update positions for corporate actions; the customer still has to know the corporate action details and make the adjustment themselves. These products require maintenance and manual input on the part of the user, and they do not calculate and continue to track realized gains and losses in a seamless fashion. Even Quicken doesn't provide automatic cost basis adjustment accurate enough for tax reporting. Only GainsTracker provides a Realized Gain/Loss Report accurate enough to complete your Schedule D. Simply include GainsTracker's Gain/Loss report with your favorite tax preparation software product or turn the report over to your accountant for tax filing. | |
| </span> | |
| <br><br> | |
| <span class="note1b">Is GainsTracker one size fits all?</span><br> | |
| <span class="note1">Yes! Regardless of trading style all investors benefit from our services. In the future a professional version, including real-time streaming quotes, will be made available for a monthly charge. We encourage investors who may be interested in the professional version to subscribe to the standard model now. Their entire account history will automatically convert to the professional model once it's available. | |
| </span> | |
| <br><br> | |
| <span class="note1b">What if investors have already made trades this tax year? Can they still take advantage of GainsKeeper's services?</span><br> | |
| <span class="note1">Yes, when individuals subscribe to GainsTracker, they can enter all prior trading activity. GainsKeeper can then rebuild the gain/loss for the entire year. In fact, investors can rebuild their 1999 trading activity and create a Schedule D for 1999 tax filing. Our technology allows us to recreate accounts at any time of the year; however, to maximize the benefits of our service, it's best to begin using GainsTracker as soon as possible. | |
| </span> | |
| <br><br> | |
| <span class="note1b">What other services does GainsKeeper offer?</span><br> | |
| <span class="note1">Our flagship service, GainsTracker, offers the only Internet cost basis solution for individual investors. Our Web site features general information on corporate actions, investment education, corporate and general news and much more. Additionally, future plans include the introduction of new portfolio management tools, as well as partnerships with several online brokerages enabling automated recording of trading activity. | |
| </span> | |
| <br><br> | |
| </span> | |
| <span class="note1b">How does GainsTracker handle Mutual Funds?</span><br> | |
| <span class="note1">GainsTracker allows investors to record their holdings out to three decimal places | |
| for both mutual funds and individual stocks. Currently, GainsTracker allows | |
| investors to record their sale activity in mutual funds and stocks by FIFO | |
| and Specific ID. For users who are selling mutual funds using Average Cost, | |
| GainsKeeper is developing Average Cost Selling for mutual funds and we | |
| expect this functionality to be ready in the 3rd quarter of this year. | |
| </span> | |
| <br><br> | |
| <span class="note1b">What is a "Security Symbol"?</span><br> | |
| <span class="note1">A Security Symbol, also called a ticker or just symbol, is typically a series of 1-5 characters. Symbols are used to identify a security (Stock, Bond, Mutual Fund, etc.) For example, Microsoft's symbol is MSFT; Fidelity's Magellan Fund is FMAGX. | |
| </span> | |
| <br><br> | |
| <span class="note1b">Is privacy at risk for portfolios stored with GainsKeeper?</span><br> | |
| <span class="note1">GainsKeeper has gone to great lengths to assure the privacy of its members. All information is password protected in a state-of-the-art relational database system. So you can securely access your investment information from any browser enabled computer, every transaction is encrypted using an independent digital certificate provided by <a target="_blank" href="https://digitalid.verisign.com/as2/d23016181d1744279df1ab267bc1c192","Help", "toolbar=0,location=0,directories=0,status=0,menubar=0,scrollbars=yes,resizable=0,height=500,width=680">VeriSign</a>. Furthermore, GainsKeeper follows a strict privacy policy stating it will never sell or otherwise distribute information about individual subscribers. | |
| </span> | |
| <br><br> | |
| </td> | |
| </tr> | |
| </table> | |
| <hr> | |
| <table width="100%"> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td class="note8c">Copyright©1999-2000 GainsKeeper, Inc. All rights reserved.</td> | |
| <td class="note8c" nowrap align="right"> <a target="_blank" href="Privacy.asp">GainsKeeper© Privacy Statement</a></td> | |
| </tr> | |
| </table> | |
| </td> | |
| </tr> | |
| </table> | |
| </body> | |
| </html> |