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“Only buy something that you’d be perfectly happy to hold if the market shut down for 10 years.”

— Warren Buffett

One of the most important things investors can learn from Warren Buffett, is about how they approach their time horizon for an investment into a stock under consideration. Because immediately after buying shares of a given stock, investors will then be able to check on the day-to-day (and even minute-by-minute) market value. Some days the stock market will be up, other days down. These daily fluctuations can often distract from the long-term view. Today, we look at the result of a decade-long holding period for an investor who was considering Mohawk Industries, Inc. (NYSE: MHK) back in 2009, bought the stock, ignored the market’s ups and downs, and simply held through to today.

Start date: 06/10/2009
$10,000

06/10/2009
$35,528

06/07/2019
End date: 06/07/2019
Start price/share: $41.36
End price/share: $146.95
Starting shares: 241.78
Ending shares: 241.78
Dividends reinvested/share: $0.00
Total return: 255.29%
Average annual return: 13.52%
Starting investment: $10,000.00
Ending investment: $35,528.18

As shown above, the decade-long investment result worked out quite well, with an annualized rate of return of 13.52%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 10 years ago into $35,528.18 today (as of 06/07/2019). On a total return basis, that’s a result of 255.29% (something to think about: how might MHK shares perform over the next 10 years?). [These numbers were computed with the Dividend Channel DRIP Returns Calculator.]

Here’s one more great investment quote before you go:
“I think you have to learn that there’s a company behind every stock, and that there’s only one real reason why stocks go up. Companies go from doing poorly to doing well or small companies grow to large companies.” — Peter Lynch