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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

Investors can learn a lot from Warren Buffett, whose above quote teaches the importance of thinking about investment time horizon, and asking ourselves before buying any given stock: can we envision holding onto it for years — even a decade-long holding period possibly?

Suppose a “buy-and-hold” investor was considering an investment into Fiserv Inc (NASD: FISV) back in 2009: back then, such an investor may have been pondering this very same question. Had they answered “yes” to a full decade-long investment time horizon and then actually held for these past 10 years, here’s how that investment would have turned out.

Start date: 07/06/2009
$10,000

07/06/2009
$83,384

07/02/2019
End date: 07/02/2019
Start price/share: $11.22
End price/share: $93.59
Starting shares: 891.27
Ending shares: 891.27
Dividends reinvested/share: $0.00
Total return: 734.14%
Average annual return: 23.64%
Starting investment: $10,000.00
Ending investment: $83,384.43

The above analysis shows the decade-long investment result worked out exceptionally well, with an annualized rate of return of 23.64%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 10 years ago into $83,384.43 today (as of 07/02/2019). On a total return basis, that’s a result of 734.14% (something to think about: how might FISV 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:
“The older I get, the more I see a straight path where I want to go. If you’re going to hunt elephants, don’t get off the trail for a rabbit.” — T. Boone Pickens