Capital loss

When you sell an asset for less than you paid for it, the difference between the two prices is your capital loss.

For example, if you buy 100 shares of stock at $30 a share and sell when the price has dropped to $20 a share, you will realize a capital loss of $10 a share, or $1,000.

Although nobody wants to lose money on an investment, there is a silver lining: You can use capital losses to offset capital gains in computing your income tax. However, you must use short-term losses to offset short-term gains and long-term losses to offset long-term gains.

If you have a net capital loss in any year - that is, your losses exceed your gains - you can usually deduct up to $3,000 of this amount from regular income on your tax return. You may also be able to carry forward net capital losses and deduct on future tax returns.