Salam Alikom Wa Rahmat Allah Wa Barakatu.
I have a few questions with regards to Zakau almall and how to pay it on regular stock investments as well as retirement investments:

1) I own regular investment stocks in companies for the purpose of selling them at a future date at a higher price and profiting from that gain. I use that gain to purchase new stocks in either the same company or new companies (given that they hallal dealings and products) So do I pay zakat almall on:

a) Their total value as long as I owe them? and is that the original purchase price, or current price (appreciated price even though I didn`t sell them)

b)OR do I pay only on the profit portion when I sell them?

c) OR both a & b?

2) For retirement (401K) investments. I`ve contributing toa 401K program since I started working and have consolidated a few 401K accounts from previous employers into my current account. The nature of the account is that I invest in it from my pay, the company matches a certain amount, and the money grows (stock appreciation) till I retire. During tat time, the US government does NOT tax the money or any of the appreciation. Because of that special tax treatment, the fund tends to grow more rapidly in value than a regular investment account. and also because of that special treatment by the US government, by law they restrict my access to the money in it till I`m 591/2 years old. If I do access it before that, the US government accesses a heavy penalty. So I basically can`t access it till then. My questions regarding this are: how do I pay zaka almall on this account?

a) On the full account balance each year as it increases? [note: I can`t access the account to pay from it`s money, and secondly I don`t have enough cash alone from my salary etc to cover 2.5% of the accounts balance]

b) on the amount it increases from one year to the other, not counting the principal?

c) only pay zakat allmal when I start taking money from it when I retire (age 60).

d) other option?

Jazakum Allah kair for all your time and efforts with this question.

AA
1-You need to pay their zakah based on their (Buying market value ). In another words, how much they worth if you want to buy- and not to sell- them, on your zakat due day.

2-Actually, you do have an access to your 401 (k), usually up to %50 of the gross amount.

The Zakatable amount is the accessible one ( the portion of the full account balance each year as it increases) after deducting the penalty and any other expenses, like tax for example, if the amount is taxable when it is withdrew before the due date. You should compute the zakatable amount based on the above calculation, and pay it annually.