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“When we own portions of outstanding businesses with outstanding managements, our favorite holding period is forever.”

— 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 twenty year holding period possibly?

Suppose a “buy-and-hold” investor was considering an investment into Mettler-Toledo International, Inc. (NYSE: MTD) back in 1999: back then, such an investor may have been pondering this very same question. Had they answered “yes” to a full twenty year investment time horizon and then actually held for these past 20 years, here’s how that investment would have turned out.

Start date: 08/27/1999
$10,000

08/27/1999
$237,464

08/26/2019
End date: 08/26/2019
Start price/share: $27.25
End price/share: $647.45
Starting shares: 366.97
Ending shares: 366.97
Dividends reinvested/share: $0.00
Total return: 2,275.96%
Average annual return: 17.15%
Starting investment: $10,000.00
Ending investment: $237,464.78

The above analysis shows the twenty year investment result worked out exceptionally well, with an annualized rate of return of 17.15%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 20 years ago into $237,464.78 today (as of 08/26/2019). On a total return basis, that’s a result of 2,275.96% (something to think about: how might MTD 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:
“To achieve satisfactory investment results is easier than most people realize; to achieve superior results is harder than it looks.” — Benjamin Graham