Selling myself, selling stock

Yesterday I sold myself and some stock and I’m not sure yet which was the better deal.

Hey, get your mind out of the gutter, reader…no matter how much I love saving I’ll never do that!

The selling myself was in the form of an out-of-state interview for a new job. Usually I enjoy the thrill of interviewing – and I think I’m pretty good at it – but for some reason everything felt off yesterday. Maybe it was the fact there was an “arctic storm” in southern California and it’s nearly impossible to look put together when your hair is stringy wet and your shoes are muddy, or maybe I was just tired from waking up so early. But I kept kicking myself mentally because words just weren’t coming together as I wanted them to and my mind seemed all jumbled.

Despite this, I still think they like me and their big struggle is with salary. I’m asking for a lot of money because of the difference in the cost of living and because I know this is my best opportunity to negotiate. Once I accept, they would have the upper hand since there aren’t a lot of jobs out there, especially in the niche I’m in.

So now it’s just a waiting game to see if I bungled the interview enough to make them rethink me as a top candidate. If I didn’t, the question is are they willing to meet me on salary and benefits? The good news is I think I’ll know sooner rather than later since they’re pretty anxious to get someone in this position.

As if yesterday wasn’t eventful enough, I also sold some stock at a loss to offset capital gains in 2008. The losses won’t cover all my capital gains but I was starting to get a little nervous about the stock anyway since it has lost a lot in value and a quick check on trading stats showed insiders have unloaded a lot of shares recently. When I bought it they were buying up shares hand over fist and not at option prices, so this was a big red flag for me. If I change my mind, I can always re-buy the stock in 30 days but for now I’m fine writing off the loss and sticking my money in safer investment vehicles.

Selling losing stocks to offset capital gains is just one way you can lower your taxes this year. Want more? Jim at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity had a great post earlier this month highlighting 10 year-end tax tips. Hurry, though, because you only have until Dec. 31 for most of these!

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