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“Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.”

— Warren Buffett

The Warren Buffett investment philosophy calls for a long-term investment horizon, where a two-decade holding period, or even longer, would fit right into the strategy. How would such a strategy have worked out for an investment into United Rentals Inc (NYSE: URI)? Today, we examine the outcome of a two-decade investment into the stock back in 1999.

Start date: 04/19/1999
$10,000

04/19/1999
$39,228

04/17/2019
End date: 04/17/2019
Start price/share: $32.06
End price/share: $125.76
Starting shares: 311.89
Ending shares: 311.89
Dividends reinvested/share: $0.00
Total return: 292.23%
Average annual return: 7.07%
Starting investment: $10,000.00
Ending investment: $39,228.34

As shown above, the two-decade investment result worked out well, with an annualized rate of return of 7.07%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 20 years ago into $39,228.34 today (as of 04/17/2019). On a total return basis, that’s a result of 292.23% (something to think about: how might URI shares perform over the next 20 years?). [These numbers were computed with the Dividend Channel DRIP Returns Calculator.]

One more piece of investment wisdom to leave you with:
“Investors should always keep in mind that the most important metric is not the returns achieved but the returns weighed against the risks incurred. Ultimately, nothing should be more important to investors than the ability to sleep soundly at night.” — Seth Klarman