“I buy on the assumption that they could close the market the next day and not reopen it for five years.”
— Warren Buffett
Such a great quote from Warren Buffett, highlighting the importance of investment time horizon when considering making an investment. In the short run, who knows what the stock market will do? A week or two after buying any given stock, could the entire stock market fall out of bed? Quite possibly! Should that happen, how would you react? It is an excellent question to think about before hitting the buy button.
For investors who take a multi-year time horizon, the important thing is not what happens in the next week or two, but what the result will be over the long haul. Today, we look at the result investors of the year 2014 experienced, who considered an investment in shares of Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings (NYSE: LH) and decided upon a five year investment time horizon.
| Start date: | 08/26/2014 |
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| End date: | 08/23/2019 | ||||
| Start price/share: | $106.43 | ||||
| End price/share: | $165.86 | ||||
| Starting shares: | 93.96 | ||||
| Ending shares: | 93.96 | ||||
| Dividends reinvested/share: | $0.00 | ||||
| Total return: | 55.84% | ||||
| Average annual return: | 9.29% | ||||
| Starting investment: | $10,000.00 | ||||
| Ending investment: | $15,584.42 | ||||
As shown above, the five year investment result worked out well, with an annualized rate of return of 9.29%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 5 years ago into $15,584.42 today (as of 08/23/2019). On a total return basis, that’s a result of 55.84% (something to think about: how might LH shares perform over the next 5 years?). [These numbers were computed with the Dividend Channel DRIP Returns Calculator.]
One more investment quote to leave you with:
“Waiting helps you as an investor and a lot of people just can’t stand to wait. If you didn’t get the deferred-gratification gene, you’ve got to work very hard to overcome that.” — Charlie Munger
