“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 ten year holding period possibly?
Suppose a “buy-and-hold” investor was considering an investment into F5 Networks, Inc. (NASD: FFIV) back in 2009: back then, such an investor may have been pondering this very same question. Had they answered “yes” to a full ten year investment time horizon and then actually held for these past 10 years, here’s how that investment would have turned out.
| Start date: | 10/12/2009 |
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| End date: | 10/10/2019 | ||||
| Start price/share: | $41.68 | ||||
| End price/share: | $132.45 | ||||
| Starting shares: | 239.92 | ||||
| Ending shares: | 239.92 | ||||
| Dividends reinvested/share: | $0.00 | ||||
| Total return: | 217.78% | ||||
| Average annual return: | 12.26% | ||||
| Starting investment: | $10,000.00 | ||||
| Ending investment: | $31,787.06 | ||||
As shown above, the ten year investment result worked out quite well, with an annualized rate of return of 12.26%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 10 years ago into $31,787.06 today (as of 10/10/2019). On a total return basis, that’s a result of 217.78% (something to think about: how might FFIV 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:
“If you’re looking for a home run, a great investment for five years or 10 years or more, then the only way to beat this enormous fog that covers the future is to identify a long-term trend that will give a particular business some sort of edge.” — Ralph Wanger
