Protect Wealth
Keep what you earn — tax, retirement, and investor psychology
A specialization path for investors focused on the often-overlooked half of investing: keeping the gains you make. Cover investment taxes (capital gains, dividends, tax-loss harvesting), retirement accounts (401(k), Traditional IRA, Roth IRA), risk management, and the behavioral finance that derails most investors. The strategy you don't get taxed on is the strategy that compounds.
Recommended: complete the Foundation Track first.
Courses in this path
Take them in any order. Each is self-contained.
On the roadmap
5 courses we're authoring next · ~53 additional lessons
- Retirement Investing11 lessons
- 401(k) & Employer Plans12 lessons
- IRA & Roth IRA14 lessons
- Behavioral Finance6 lessons
- Risk Management10 lessons
We're building these in order. Estimates may shift as we author.
What you'll learn
By completing this path, you'll be able to:
- Understand short-term vs long-term capital gains tax — and why holding period matters
- Use tax-loss harvesting to offset gains, without tripping wash-sale rules
- Choose between Traditional IRA, Roth IRA, and Backdoor Roth based on your tax situation
- Maximize 401(k) employer match and understand vesting schedules
- Recognize FOMO, panic-selling, confirmation bias, and other common cognitive traps
- Size positions appropriately for your account and risk tolerance
- Build a tax-aware withdrawal strategy for retirement
Frequently Asked Questions
No — taxes are one piece. Protect Wealth also covers retirement account selection (401(k), IRA, Roth), the psychology that causes most investors to underperform (panic-selling, FOMO), and risk management. Together, these decide what fraction of your gains you actually keep.
For your specific tax situation — yes. The courses teach the concepts (how capital gains work, what tax-loss harvesting is, how Roth conversions are taxed), but applying them to your finances should involve a CPA or tax professional. StockCram is educational; we don't give tax advice.
No. Tax-advantaged accounts (Roth IRA, 401(k), HSA) and basic concepts like 'don't sell winners in a taxable account before a year' affect everyone with investment income. The earlier you understand them, the more they compound.
Build Wealth is about what you invest in. Protect Wealth is about the account types you hold it in and how you behave through cycles. Most long-term investors pair the two — invest smart, then keep what you earn.
Expanded Investment Taxes is the next priority (a deeper version of the live Tax Basics course), followed by Retirement Investing and the dedicated 401(k) and IRA courses. The placement map in our docs sets the order.