The biggest mistake regarding record-keeping is not writing things down or not remembering where you wrote it down.

The biggest problem is people don't keep good records. If people kept better records, they'd save money.

The AMT is an entirely different way to calculate your taxes, and it's not really an alternative, as the name suggests. You have no choice. And it's affecting more and more people all the time.

I'm not keeping track, but the record is there for someone to break.

Lower taxes are great, but if its going to cost you money, it's not worth it. If a stock hits your sell range after 3 months, do you really want to risk 9 more months of fluctuation to get a lower tax rate?

The biggest mistake to me is complacency.