“An investment portfolio is like a bar of soap: The more you touch/handle it, the smaller it gets” is an investment adage. The saying has been cited in print since at least 1995.
 
       
7 February 1995, Kansas City (MO) Star, “Chennel 62 honcho has a wild time at Vegas TV convention” by Hearne Christopher Jr., pf. E3:
Darcy Howe, a VP with Merrill Lynch, won second place with this trading philosophy: “I’ve always felt that investing is like a bar of soap. The more you handle it, the smaller it gets.
 
24 February 1998, San Jose (CA) Mercury News, “Making Money in the Market: Buy and Hold,” pg. 11C:
Speaker after speaker at the Investors’ Town Meeting in Palo Alto last week echoed the praises of buying stocks and holding them long-term, but none said it more succinctly than Securities Industry Association spokeswoman Ronni Burns: ‘‘Your investment portfolio is like a bar of soap: The more you touch it, the smaller it gets.’’
     
Google Groups: misc.invest.stocks
Newsgroups: misc.invest.stocks, misc.invest.canada
From: “704set” <704…@usa.net>

Date: 1999/12/20
Subject: Re: day trading v/s DAY trading
 
A portfolio is like a bar of soap.  The more you handle it, the smaller it gets.
 
6 May 2004, Winnipeg (Manitoba) Free Press, “On Mutual Funds: by Randy Reynolds, pg. C9, col. 1:
There is an old saying that applies to this strategy: “A portfolio is like a bar of soap. The more you touch it, the smaller it gets.”
       
17 June 2007, Los Angeles (CA) Times, “Sunday profile: They make money the old-fashioned way; Andrew Crowell honors profitable traditions at his family’s brokerage. But attracting younger clients is a challenge” by Tom Petruno, pg. C2:
Andrew Crowell recalls one of his father’s favorite sayings: “Money is like a bar of soap: The more you handle it, the smaller it gets.”
 
Google Books
Retirementology:
Rethinking the American dream in a new economy
By Gregory B. Salsbury
Upper Saddle River, NJ: FT Press
2010
Pg. ?:
Remember, a retirement nest egg is like a bar of soap; the more you touch it, the smaller it gets.
 
The Star (Toronto)
Investment experts share their advice
Published On Wed Sep 15 2010
Madhavi Acharya-Tom Yew
Business Reporter
(...) 
“Treat your portfolio like a bar of soap. The more you touch it, the smaller it gets.”
     
Seeking Alpha
Why Buy and Hold Will Always Be a Sound Investing Strategy
by: Chuck Carnevale
October 19, 2010
(...)
As an investing strategy, there is an old adage that supports the virtue of being a buy-and-hold investor: “a portfolio is like a bar of soap, the more you handle it the smaller it gets.”
 
City-Data Forum
Teak
01-10-2012, 06:11 PM
(...)
There is a funny comment in the comment section below that goes:
“A portfolio is like a bar of soap, the more you handle it, the smaller it gets.”