These gains don't cause pain. A capital gain is the amount of money you pocket by selling one of your investments for more than you paid for it. Technically, capital gains only count for what's called a capital asset, but that's really just anything you own for investment purposes. Stocks and bonds obviously qualify, but your house and household furnishings can also count.

For tax purposes, capital gains are classified as either long-term (held for more than one year) or short-term (held for less than one year) and there are different tax implications for how long you hold onto a capital asset. For most long-term capital gains, you're taxed no more than 15% of the value of the asset. Short-term gains get taxed as regular income, so you pay the rate for the tax bracket you're in.

Capital gains can also be realized or unrealized. When you physically sell an asset like a stock, you've realized the capital gain. When you're holding the stock, and it has a value over its purchase price, but you're not selling it, you've got an unrealized gain, and you won't realize it until you sell.

In a perfect world, we'd all have capital gains. But no one¿s that smart or lucky. When the value of an asset at sale is below what you've paid for it, it's called a capital loss. The good news is that the government lets you count that loss against any gains you've had, lowering the taxes you pay. In fact, many people who sell a stock that has risen far over their purchase price tend to sell some stinkers, too, at the same time for the tax benefit. This is known as a capital-loss offset.

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Friday, July 18, 2008

Wanna Know What Your Spouse is Up to? Toss a GPS Device in the Bag

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Donna Fuscaldo

FOXBusiness

These days you don’t need a lot of money or a private detective to see what your spouse, kid or even your pet is up to.

From cell phones to wristbands to small handheld devices, a host of companies are launching personal GPS locators that can track everything from a teenager to a car.

While GPS or global positioning satellite technology has been around for years, advances in the technology and consumers’ acceptance are spawning a new market for relatively cheap GPS locators.

“GPS is growing into a massive category," said Kate Shevack, president of Zoombak, a New York City GPS-locator company.

Zoombak makes three GPS-locator devices targeted toward pets and consumers. Its products used Assisted GPS, a technology that melds GPS satellite positioning and mobile-phone networks to provide a faster and more accurate location than traditional GPS. The technology also enables a user to get a text message or e-mail of the location of the person, car or pet at any given time. More than one user can receive the alerts.

Take the pet locator. It can be set up to alert you when your pet leaves a safety zone and helps you locate your pets whereabouts by viewing the movements of your pet via the Internet on a map, which updates every few minutes.

“It's essentially a GPS device in a pouch you attach to the dog collar," said Shevack, noting the water-resistant pouch only weighs 2.5 ounces, but is durable enough to fit a dog’s rugged lifestyle. “A dog is lost every three seconds. It’s a very relevant, beneficial product for members of your extended family.”

The GPS device costs $199 and the monthly service fee to monitor your pet ranges from $9.99 for buying time in six month allotments to $14.99 for pay as you go.

Zoombak’s car monitor works on the same premise but can either be hardwired into a car or placed in any automobile. The device is targeted toward parents that want to know when their teenage driver arrives at a destination. As soon as the car arrives at the destination, a text message or e-mail will alert will be sent. The car locator sells for $249 at Zoombak.com, BestBuy.com or Circuit City and has the same monthly service fees. The universal product is more light weight and can fit in a bag or on a person. That one also sells for $199.

“What these devices are doing is going beyond GPS and linking to your cell phone. Its providing the immediacy of text alert or through email,’’ said Shevack.

Kajeet, the Bethesda, Md.-based pre-paid cell phone company targeted at kids, is also using Assisted GPS technology, but is incorporating it into its cell phones. Kajeet’s phone locator service lets users view a map or satellite picture of the phone’s current location if the phone is turned on.

The service, which is $9.99 a month on top of the price of the phone, lets you preset five times a day when you want to be informed -- via email or text message -- where the phone is. Kajeet, which is trying to drive adoption of this technology, is offering the service for free for the first three months.

Laipac Tech, out of Ontario, which makes GPS-tracking devices largely for the commercial markets, will start selling a wrist product this fall. The wrist GPS device, which will sell for $390 is targeted to the law enforcement market, but can also be used for sports enthusiasts and anyone else who wants to track a person. The device works inside and outside and can only be removed by being physically cut.

The company also sells personal GPS locators that can be thrown in a bag or in a pocket and will let you track the person in real time. The tracking service costs $7 a month, with the device costing around $250.