Do you own mutual funds in a regular brokerage account and got stuffed with an unwelcome tax

surprise at the end of the year? Well, that was almost certainly from capital gain distributions,

and I'm about to explain what they are in this, the 12th episode of the Retirement Planning Education

Podcast.

Welcome to the Retirement Planning Education Podcast, where you can learn all about IRAs and Roth IRAs, employer retirement plans, taxes, Social Security, Medicare, portfolio withdrawal strategies, annuities, estate planning, and much more.

And now here's your host, Andy Panko.

Welcome, everybody. Welcome to the 12th episode of the Retirement Planning

Education podcast. It's a big deal, 12. If I was a bakery, I'd throw in a 13th episode

for free, I guess. Baker's doesn't. So, seriously, though, we got a good one today,

one that is timely and relevant. So by the time you, you know, this episode's getting released

early March, 2022. So many of you are doing or have already done your tax returns. And if you

have mutual funds in a regular taxable brokerage account, you may have gotten some unwelcome

tax surprise in the form of a large, what's called capital gain distribution paid out by your

fund into your account or into your fund at most likely in December of the end of the year of the end

of 2021. So this episode will explain what those capital gain distributions are, where they come from,

what their purpose is. And can you do anything about it? And the short answer

is not easily, at least. So let's get into it. So first, what is a capital gain distribution?

Well, I want to step back and explain a little more background, which will help this all make sense.

So first, what does a capital gain in general?

Well, think about if you own, and this only applies to regular taxable brokerage accounts,

I should say.

If you have a qualified account like a traditional IRA, a Roth IRA, a health savings

...