Sell down to the sleeping point

The stock market sometimes causes many people to lose sleep. An old Wall Street proverb is to “sell down to the sleeping point”—that is, only assume the risk that can make you sleep comfortably at night, without excessive worry.

The Wall Street proverb is cited in print by at least March 1891, when Dickson G. Watts, head of the New York Cotton Exchange from 1878 to 1880, wrote an article (later reprinted as a book) on “Speculation as a Fine Art” for The Cosmopolitan magazine. The saying is sometimes (probably incorrectly) attributed to J. P. Morgan, although no early, direct print citations can be credited to him.


Stock Market Adages
Buy to the sleeping point. [If you are troubled about making an investment but still feel the need to make it, make the smallest possible investment that leaves you feeling like you’ve ‘dealt’ with the need and can calmly sleep at night. To feel obligated to make an “all or nothing” investment.]
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Sell to the sleeping point. —if you are troubled by an investment but still desire to hang onto it, sell just enough so that you can feel that you’ve ‘dealt’ with the anxiety and can calmly sleep at night, but you’ve kept enough to feel comfortable with what you have left.