Also, wouldn't this mean you have to pay interest on the ENTIRE amount of the loan, as opposed to tax on just the gains? So if you have $1000 that means at 2% interest (I assume that's yearly) you're paying $20/year, whereas if your stock went up 5% (= $50), that means you'd be paying (say) 25% of that, which is $12.50. So it should be only better if either have a high tax rate or your stocks /really/ increased in value (not just kept pace with inflation).