ConocoPhillips Sticks By 2008 Production Target

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These gains don't cause pain. A capital gain is the amount of moneyyou pocket by selling one of your investments for more than youpaid for it. Technically, capital gains only count for what'scalled a capital asset, but that's really just anything you own forinvestment purposes.

Stocks and bonds obviously qualify, but yourhouse 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 oneyear) and there are different tax implications for how long youhold onto a capital asset. For most long-term capital gains, you'retaxed no more than 15% of the value of the asset. Short-term gainsget taxed as regular income, so you pay the rate for the taxbracket you're in.
 
Capital gains can also be realized or unrealized. When youphysically sell an asset like a stock, you've realized the capitalgain. When you're holding the stock, and it has a value over itspurchase price, but you're not selling it, you've got an unrealizedgain, and you won't realize it until you sell.

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