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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 Boston Scientific Corp. (NYSE: BSX) back in 2009, bought the stock, ignored the market’s ups and downs, and simply held through to today.

Start date: 07/27/2009
$10,000

07/27/2009
$40,035

07/25/2019
End date: 07/25/2019
Start price/share: $10.49
End price/share: $42.01
Starting shares: 953.29
Ending shares: 953.29
Dividends reinvested/share: $0.00
Total return: 300.48%
Average annual return: 14.88%
Starting investment: $10,000.00
Ending investment: $40,035.41

The above analysis shows the decade-long investment result worked out quite well, with an annualized rate of return of 14.88%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 10 years ago into $40,035.41 today (as of 07/25/2019). On a total return basis, that’s a result of 300.48% (something to think about: how might BSX shares perform over the next 10 years?). [These numbers were computed with the Dividend Channel DRIP Returns Calculator.]

One more investment quote to leave you with:
“The right time for a company to finance its growth is not when it needs capital, but rather when the market is most receptive to providing capital.” — Michael Milken