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My mutual fund gained $177 in value for 2018 but the long term capital gain was $1984. How can this be?

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
June 6, 2019
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It doesn't make sense that the capital gain was much, much higher than the fund earn as a total for the year.

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Best answer by DavidD66

When a mutual fund sells investments inside the fund, it realizes capital gains and losses. The fund could be selling investments that it has held for a long time with very significant gains. The investments sold could have even decreased during 2018, and have been sold for a large gain, nonetheless. It sounds like your fund had a fair amount of that. By law, mutual funds are required to distribute virtually all of the net capital gains (and dividends) to shareholders.

fanfare

Employee

that's how it goes with mutual funds. You're better off avoiding their fees and making your own investment decisions.

D

DavidD66Answer

When a mutual fund sells investments inside the fund, it realizes capital gains and losses. The fund could be selling investments that it has held for a long time with very significant gains. The investments sold could have even decreased during 2018, and have been sold for a large gain, nonetheless. It sounds like your fund had a fair amount of that. By law, mutual funds are required to distribute virtually all of the net capital gains (and dividends) to shareholders.

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