Pay Attention to Taxes and Inflation

关注税收和通货膨胀

To paraphrase¹ famed investor² Warren Buffett, when it comes to measuring your investment results over time, the primary thing that matters is how many more hamburgers you can buy at the end of the day. In other words, focus on purchasing power.

根据著名投资人沃伦·巴菲特所言，衡量长期投资收入时最基本要考虑的是最终你能多买几个汉堡，也就是说要关注购买力。

It is amazing how few professional portfolio³ managers focus on pre-tax returns rather than after-tax returns or who ignore the rate of inflation.

但令人惊讶的是只有极少数专业投资管理人会关注税前收益而不关注税后收益，或者忽视通货膨胀率。

Many trade frequently and although they may earn 9% to 12% for their investors⁴ over long periods of time, if those investors are in a high marginal tax bracket, the investors will end up with less wealth than they would have otherwise had if they had hired a more conservative manager who made 10% but who structured the investments with an eye towards April 15th. Why?

许多人交易频繁，虽然长期内能为投资者赚到9%-12%的收益率，但如果投资者要面临高边际税率的话，最终赚到的钱还不如找一个更保守的投资管理人多，保守的管理人能赚到10%的收益率，但会以4月15日为目标进行投资。为什么会这样？

In addition to the enormous cost savings⁵ that result from long-term investing (as opposed to short-term trading), there are several tax advantages. Here are some of them:

除了长期投资节约的巨大成本（与短期交易相反）之外，还有一些税率的优势。下面举几个例子：

Short-term capital gains are taxed at personal income tax rates. In New York City, for example, Federal, State, and Local taxes on these types of short-term gains can meet or exceed 50%!

短期资本收益按个人所得税税率纳税，比如在纽约市，联邦、州和地方的这种短期收益的税率可达或超过50%！

At the Federal level, the worst damage is presently 39.6%.

联邦税收中目前最高的税率是39.6%。

In contrast, long-term capital gains, or those generated from investments held for one year or longer, are typically taxed between 0% and 23.6% at the Federal level.

相比之下，联邦层面的长期资本收益，或由一年或更长时间投资产生的收益，通常的税率为0% -23.6%。

Unrealized gains are a sort of "float" on which you can continue to experience the benefit of compounding your money.

未实现收益是一种“浮动”，让你能继续享受理财的收益。

If you sell your investment to the move the money into a new stock, bond, mutual⁶ fund, or other investment, you are not only going to have to pay commissions, but you are going to have to give the tax man his cut of your profits.

如果你卖掉投资产品，把钱转移到新股票、债券、共有基金或其他投资上，你不仅要付佣金，还要从你的利润中分给税务人员一部分。

That means the amount you have available to reinvest is going to be substantially lower than the amount shown on your balance sheet just before you liquidated⁷ the position.

这就意味着清算资产之前你能继续投资的那部分钱，基本上会低于决算表上显示的钱数。

That's why the best investment minds, such as Benjamin Graham, said you should only consider switching out of one investment and into another if you think the new position is far more attractive than your current one.

这就是为什么像本杰明·格雷厄姆这样最好的投资人说你只能在新的投资产品比目前投资产品好太多时才能考虑从一个投资中撤出，转投另外一个。

In other words, it's not enough for it to be a "little" more attractive - it needs to be absolutely evident to you.

也就是说吸引力大“一点点”都不够，对你来说足够有说服力才可以。

To learn more about this topic, read Using Deferred⁸ Taxes to Increase Your Investment Returns.

为了了解更多这方面的内容，你可以读一下《Using Deferred Taxes to Increase Your Investment Returns》。

Where and how you hold your investments can exert a significant influence on your ultimate compounding rate.

把钱投在哪儿、怎样投都会对你的最终复合增长率产生巨大影响。

If you own shares of many different companies, some of these stocks are likely to pay large cash dividends¹⁰, while others retain most profits to fund future expansion.

如果你拥有多家不同公司的股份，其中有一些可能会付给你大量的现金股利，而其他的要保留大部分收益来保证未来投资的增长。

(To learn why this happens, read Determining Dividend⁹ Payout: When Should a Company Pay Dividends?).

（想要了解具体原因，请阅读《Determining Dividend Payout: When Should a Company Pay Dividends?》）Certain types of bonds, such as tax-free municipal bonds, can be exempt¹¹ from taxes even when held in taxable accounts under the right conditions, while other types of interest income, such as those generated by corporate¹² bonds held in an ordinary brokerage account, can be taxed at almost 50% by the time you add up Federal, state, and local taxation¹³.

某些特定类型的债券，如免税市政债券，正常情况下即使在纳税账户中也能免税。而其他类型的利息收入，如普通经纪账户持有的公司债券产生的收益，加上联邦、州和地方税税率将高达约50%。

As a result, you need to pay careful attention to where, precisely¹⁴, on your balance sheet specific assets are placed if you want to get the most from your money.

因此如果你想要让收益最大化你需要格外注意决算表上特定资产究竟投在了哪里。

For example, you would never hold tax-free municipal bonds through a Roth IRA.

比如你绝对不会通过罗斯个人退休账户买到免税市政债券。

You would prioritize putting the dividend paying stocks in a tax shelter such as a Roth IRA and non-dividend stocks in an ordinary brokerage account.

你会优先考虑把分红的股票放进罗斯个人退休账户等避税投资中，不分红的股票放进普通的经纪账户中。

Always, always, always contribute to your 401k at least up to the amount of your employer match. If your employer matches $1 for $1 on the first 3%, for example, you are instantly earning a 100% return on your money without taking any risk!

一定、一定、一定要保证养老金至少够付佣金，比如如果前3%收益每$1的佣金是$1，那你也一直能得到全部收益而不用承担任何风险！

Even if you grab the matching money and park your 401(k) balance in something like a stable value fund, it's free cash.

即使你能付得起佣金，把养老金用来付稳定价值基金等理财产品的话，也是一笔闲钱。

Don't overlook the benefit of seemingly boring assets such as Series I savings bonds, which have some significant inflation advantages.

不要忽视看起来无聊的资产的收益，比如系列一类储蓄债券，它们会有一些明显的应对通货膨胀的优势。