When looking at a monthly brokerage statement, an investor's eyes go straight to the bottom line--the account value. But there's a catch. If you have big gains and decide to play it safe and take some of that money off the table, taxes will take a hefty chunk of those profits. Brokerage firms know how to handle such risk for their own accounts, hedging holdings, for example, to iron out volatility instead of incurring taxable capital gains. Savvy individual investors can use the same techniques to protect themselves.

In this indispensable guide, Robert Gordon, a Wall Street...