{"id":614042,"date":"2026-04-29T22:14:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T22:14:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/614042\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T22:14:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T22:14:13","slug":"my-mother-in-laws-financial-advisor-let-her-make-a-30000-mistake-im-fuming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/614042\/","title":{"rendered":"My Mother-in-Law\u2019s Financial Advisor Let Her Make a $30,000 Mistake. I\u2019m Fuming."},"content":{"rendered":"

Pay Dirt is Slate\u2019s money advice column. Have a question? Send it to Kristin and Ilyce here<\/a>. (It\u2019s anonymous!)<\/p>\n

Dear Pay Dirt,<\/p>\n

My mother-in-law recently asked if I could help her with taxes. Since I didn\u2019t have my laptop on me at the time, she just handed me the entire packet of paperwork, and I took it home. During the process, I noticed a five-figure short-term capital gains loss carried over from the previous year. This seemed quite unusual, given what we know about their finances and how incredibly conservative she is about investing. I followed the carryover back to a transaction in 2022. It seemed she had pulled most of her savings (a little under $300,000) out of the various (reasonable, diverse) investments it was in and reinvested in mostly treasury bonds. I think this was likely as a reaction to constant news coverage about drops in the stock market. Sadly, she did this at the lowest point of the market.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m especially angry because the money is managed by one of the largest consumer banks in the country, and the financial advisor should have explained the cyclical nature of the stock market to her, instead of just doing what she asked blindly. I remember she made a comment from back in 2022, when she was talking about moving money around. She said \u201cI told him to invest as conservatively as possible,\u201d but did not know the context until now. I am sure that if this advisor had explained the loss associated with the re-shuffle, she would not have done it. Since my in-laws don\u2019t pay taxes (their taxable income is less than the standard deduction), they just lose $3,000 of the loss every year (so only about $17,000 of loss left at this point). I\u2019m wondering if there is any strategy to recoup the loss? I haven\u2019t mentioned any of this to her yet as my husband advised me not to, since she tends to be very anxious about money (she is terrified that someone is going to scam her). I\u2019m not sure if she realized that she lost $31,000 when she moved money in that fashion (previous tax prep was done at the library through an AARP program). Is it worth mentioning if nothing can be done?<\/p>\n

\u2014With Advisors Like These, Who Needs Scammers<\/p>\n

Dear Advisors Like These,<\/p>\n

Your mother-in-law\u2019s advisor may not have been malicious, but you\u2019re right\u2014they should have warned her about the consequences of selling off her investments.<\/p>\n

For those who might not be in the know, a capital loss<\/a> is what happens when you sell an investment for less than what you paid for it. Which, clearly, is not ideal. It\u2019s also a pretty easy thing to avoid when it comes to broad, diversified, long-term investing. With that kind of investing\u2014the investing that most of us should be doing if we want to retire someday\u2014you generally keep your money in the market and wait for it to recover because, historically, broad markets have always recovered over time.<\/a><\/p>\n

As you said, your mother-in-law took a loss. And if she had an income that put her above the standard deduction, that loss might come in handy because it could offset her taxable income or future capital gains, reducing the amount of tax she owes. As you pointed out, the IRS applies up to $3,000 of that loss each year. But because she had no taxable income, she missed out on the potential benefit of this, which makes the whole thing even more frustrating.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I Made the Best Choice for My Kids in an Impossible Situation. I Can\u2019t Believe How My \u201cVillage\u201d Is Reacting.
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

My Friend Butt-Dialed Me and Left a Voicemail. Now I Know Something I Shouldn\u2019t.
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I Read My Ex-Husband\u2019s Obituary. He Told a Huge Lie\u2014Involving Me.
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

But as far as I understand it<\/a>, the capital loss is only used up if it actually gets, well, used. In other words, she should be able to carry over that loss to later years. I\u2019m not a tax expert, though, so it\u2019s definitely worth consulting a professional, like a fee-only financial planner or CPA, who\u2019s familiar with the ins and outs of tax law. There might be a situation in the future where this loss would be useful, and that\u2019s something a tax professional will have to help you navigate.<\/p>\n

Talking to your mother in law about this might trigger her financial anxiety, but she should be in the loop about what\u2019s happened. You\u2019re right that a good advisor would\u2019ve warned her against the dangers of selling low\u2014so either they did warn her, and she didn\u2019t heed their advice, or she needs a new advisor. I\u2019d let her know you noticed something but make the conversation solution-oriented. \u201cI\u2019m glad you asked me to do your taxes because I noticed a loss from selling your investments. Did your advisor warn you about this? If not, let\u2019s find a new one together.\u201d From there, choose a financial planner that\u2019s certified with the CFP board, not just one that comes with her bank account. Certified Financial Planners<\/a> take a fiduciary oath to act in their client\u2019s best interest\u2014which is exactly what your mother-in-law needs.<\/p>\n

\u2014Kristin<\/p>\n

\n Please keep questions short (<150 words), and don\u2018t submit the same question to multiple columns. We are unable to edit or remove questions after publication. Use pseudonyms to maintain anonymity. Your submission may be used in other Slate advice columns and may be edited for publication.\n <\/p>\n

More Money Advice From Slate<\/p>\n

My wife is extremely ambitious and career-minded; she graduated high school with a two-year degree and is now in a management position at a big software company, which is amazing for her age. I have always wanted to be a stay-at-home dad. I love kids and have always wanted to partake in the amazing journey that is helping a little person navigate the world. This was discussed at length before we got married and especially before we decided to get pregnant. But now that our daughter is 6 months old,\u00a0my wife has changed her mind entirely.<\/a><\/p>\n

Get the latest from Prudie and our columnists in your inbox each weekday, plus special bonus letters on Saturdays.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pay Dirt is Slate\u2019s money advice column. Have a question? Send it to Kristin and Ilyce here. (It\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":614043,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[3005,28,147,530],"class_list":["post-614042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-advice","tag-business","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=614042"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614042\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/614043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=614042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=614042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=614042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}