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

— Warren Buffett

The wisdom of Warren Buffett reflects a value-based philosophy about investing that says investors are buying shares in a business, and encourages strategic thinking about investment time horizon. Before placing a buy order for a stock, a great question we can ask is whether we would still be comfortable making the investment if we couldn’t sell it for many years?

A “buy-and-hold” approach may call for a time horizon that spans a long period of time — maybe even lasting for a twenty year holding period. Suppose such a “buy-and-hold” investor had looked into buying shares of Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASD: ALXN) back in 1999. Let’s take a look at how such an investment would have worked out for that buy-and-hold investor:

Start date: 11/01/1999
$10,000

11/01/1999
$322,816

10/29/2019
End date: 10/29/2019
Start price/share: $3.33
End price/share: $107.53
Starting shares: 3,003.00
Ending shares: 3,003.00
Dividends reinvested/share: $0.00
Total return: 3,129.13%
Average annual return: 18.97%
Starting investment: $10,000.00
Ending investment: $322,816.64

As shown above, the twenty year investment result worked out exceptionally well, with an annualized rate of return of 18.97%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 20 years ago into $322,816.64 today (as of 10/29/2019). On a total return basis, that’s a result of 3,129.13% (something to think about: how might ALXN shares perform over the next 20 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