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“I buy on the assumption that they could close the market the next day and not reopen it for five years.”

— Warren Buffett

The investment philosophy practiced by Warren Buffett calls for investors to take a long-term horizon when making an investment, such as a five year holding period (or even longer), and reconsider making the investment in the first place if unable to envision holding the stock for at least five years. Today, we look at how such a long-term strategy would have done for investors in SVB Financial Group (NASD: SIVB) back in 2014, holding through to today.

Start date: 09/11/2014
$10,000

09/11/2014
$19,069

09/10/2019
End date: 09/10/2019
Start price/share: $114.39
End price/share: $218.13
Starting shares: 87.42
Ending shares: 87.42
Dividends reinvested/share: $0.00
Total return: 90.69%
Average annual return: 13.78%
Starting investment: $10,000.00
Ending investment: $19,069.08

As we can see, the five year investment result worked out quite well, with an annualized rate of return of 13.78%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 5 years ago into $19,069.08 today (as of 09/10/2019). On a total return basis, that’s a result of 90.69% (something to think about: how might SIVB 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:
“The idea that a bell rings to signal when to get into or out of the stock market is simply not credible. After nearly fifty years in this business, I don’t know anybody who has done it successfully and consistently.” — Jack Bogle