At long as a stock is acting right, and the market is right, do not be in a hurry to take profits. One should never permit speculative ventures to run into investments.
Interpretation
Patience is key in investing; don’t rush to take profits unless conditions change.
This quote emphasizes the importance of patience in trading and investing. Jesse Livermore advises that as long as a stock behaves well and the market conditions are favorable, investors should resist the urge to quickly secure profits. It warns against allowing speculative positions to turn into long-term investments without careful analysis, underscoring the need for vigilance in managing one's investments.
In practice
During a financial seminar to stress the importance of holding onto good stocks.
The average man doesn't wish to be told that it is a bull or a bear market. What he desires is to be told specifically which particular stock to buy or sell. He wants to get something for nothing. He does not wish to work. He doesn't even wish to have to think.
After spending many years in Wall Street and after making and losing millions of dollars I want to tell you this: It never was my thinking that made the big money for me. It always was my sitting. Got that? My sitting tight!
Don't take action with a trade until the market, itself, confirms your opinion. Being a little late in a trade is insurance that your opinion is correct. In other words, don't be an impatient trader.
He really meant to tell them that the big money was not in the individual fluctuations but in the main movements that is, not in reading the tape but in sizing up the entire market and its trend.
Men who can both be right and sit tight are uncommon. I found it one of the hardest things to learn. But it is only after a stock operator has firmly grasped this that he can make big money.
It is what people actually did in the stock market that counted - not what they said they were going to do.
Investing isn’t risky; not being in control is risky.
Remember that the stock market is manic-depressive.
Any bull market covers a multitude of sins, so there may be all sorts of problems with the current system that we won't see until the bear market comes.
Eliminate emotion from your investment program.
We need a mutual fund industry with both vision and values; a vision of fiduciary duty and shareholder service, and values rooted in the proven principles of long-term investing and of trusteeship that demands integrity in serving our clients.
Liquidity is a good proxy for relative net worth. You can't lie about cash, stocks, and bond values.
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