After reading Brad's weekly update about tax loss harvesting I am considering taking advantage of the recent market downturn in my brokerage account. I hold my brokerage at M1 Finance, which uses "pies" to automate deposits and dividends etc. Currently, my pie is 100% VTI. I would like to sell some of my shares to lock in a loss to utilize for my 2026 taxes, but I am unsure how to do with with M1's platform. Does anyone have any insight into how to accomplish this? One potential solution would be to edit my pie and have some allocation to VOO to avoid the wash sale rule, but I am unsure how M1 would automatically select which lots to sell and convert to VOO. Any help would be appreciated!
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Patrick Gilbert
112 XP
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4 replies
Planning to retire before 59½?
Access your retirement funds early and penalty-free with this essential tax strategy.
The Roth Conversion LadderReplies (4)
John Davidson
3 months ago
yep, it works automatically but like mentioned above you have too reduce the pie allocation or add a replacement so it doesn't auto rebuy
hughbrooks
268 XP7 months ago
I checked in with ChatGPT on this, so the answer may need double checking but it sounds right:
🎯 Best way to do TLH in M1
🟢 Step-by-step
- Turn OFF auto-invest
- Turn OFF dividend reinvestment (temporarily)
- Reduce VTI allocation
- Add replacement (VOO / ITOT / SCHB)
- Let the trade execute
- Wait 30+ days before touching VTI again
🔥 The BostonFI comment is actually right
“Consider moving to Fidelity / Schwab / Vanguard”
That’s because:
👉 TLH is much cleaner outside M1
🧠 Key insight
M1 is optimized for:
👉 simplicity + automation
NOT:
👉 tax optimization
BostonFI
5,244 XP7 months ago
Bogleheads forums are often a good resource for "how to" questions like this. After you do this on M1, consider moving your assets to Fidelity, Schwab or Vanguard where TLH is really straightforward because you can easily identify tax lots to sell.
Tax loss harvesting in M1
https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=293986
sforrest
369 XP7 months ago
Looks like M1 tries to do this magically for you. The order of operations looks pretty reasonable to me. Ideally you would have more control for tax gain harvesting in early retirement.
