Investors: As If The Markets Haven't Screwed You Enough...

So your stocks are down, what, 35%, and all you want to do is cling to the precious dollars you have left? Not so fast. Any money your stock funds made earlier in the year (when times were closer to peachy) is going to have to be taxed. Yea, I know you know that, but CNN wants to remind us that we can't avoid paying taxes on stocks that have already lost the money they gained, and then some.

Unless your stocks are in a tax deferred account, like a 401(k) or IRA, you'll probably have to pay taxes on them. "Fund managers had to sell appreciated shares to raise cash for redemptions, which triggered capital-gains distributions," Tom Roseen, senior research analyst at Lipper told CNN. "So you have insult on top of injury."

CNN suggests checking if your funds have declared their taxable distributions yet. If they haven't, sell them and capture the loss. You can deduct up to $3,000 in capital losses from ordinary income. Losses beyond that amount can be carried forward indefinitely to offset future gains. The article provides other tips for investing wisely in the years ahead so taxes aren't such a pain in the ass.