Anna-Louise Jackson is a contributor to Bankrate, covering taxes and personal finance. Jackson's career began about 15 years ago at Bloomberg, where she covered financial markets and the economy. She's since written about personal finance topics for CNBC, The Associated Press, The Wall Street Journal, Time, Money, NerdWallet. Her reporting has also been published by Bloomberg Businessweek, Fast Company and Success. Jackson enjoys making complex topics more understandable for readers.
The federal government encourages Americans to invest, but Uncle Sam wants a cut of any profits. Capital gains are the financial profit you earn when you sell an asset like a home, business or stocks and [...]