“Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.”
— Warren Buffett
The investment philosophy practiced by Warren Buffett calls for investors to take a long-term horizon when making an investment, such as a two-decade holding period (or even longer), and reconsider making the investment in the first place if unable to envision holding the stock for at least five years. Today, we look at how such a long-term strategy would have done for investors in Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASD: VRTX) back in 1999, holding through to today.
| Start date: | 03/08/1999 |
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| End date: | 03/07/2019 | ||||
| Start price/share: | $13.38 | ||||
| End price/share: | $178.61 | ||||
| Starting shares: | 747.38 | ||||
| Ending shares: | 747.38 | ||||
| Dividends reinvested/share: | $0.00 | ||||
| Total return: | 1,234.90% | ||||
| Average annual return: | 13.83% | ||||
| Starting investment: | $10,000.00 | ||||
| Ending investment: | $133,583.01 | ||||
As we can see, the two-decade investment result worked out quite well, with an annualized rate of return of 13.83%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 20 years ago into $133,583.01 today (as of 03/07/2019). On a total return basis, that’s a result of 1,234.90% (something to think about: how might VRTX shares perform over the next 20 years?). [These numbers were computed with the Dividend Channel DRIP Returns Calculator.]
One more investment quote to leave you with:
“How many millionaires do you know who have become wealthy by investing in savings accounts? I rest my case.” — Robert Allen
