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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

One of the most important things investors can learn from Warren Buffett, is about how they approach their time horizon for an investment into a stock under consideration. Because immediately after buying shares of a given stock, investors will then be able to check on the day-to-day (and even minute-by-minute) market value. Some days the stock market will be up, other days down. These daily fluctuations can often distract from the long-term view. Today, we look at the result of a five year holding period for an investor who was considering Ansys Inc. (NASD: ANSS) back in 2014, bought the stock, ignored the market’s ups and downs, and simply held through to today.

Start date: 11/12/2014
$10,000

11/12/2014
$28,451

11/11/2019
End date: 11/11/2019
Start price/share: $79.90
End price/share: $227.35
Starting shares: 125.16
Ending shares: 125.16
Dividends reinvested/share: $0.00
Total return: 184.54%
Average annual return: 23.26%
Starting investment: $10,000.00
Ending investment: $28,451.87

As we can see, the five year investment result worked out exceptionally well, with an annualized rate of return of 23.26%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 5 years ago into $28,451.87 today (as of 11/11/2019). On a total return basis, that’s a result of 184.54% (something to think about: how might ANSS 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:
“Investors should purchase stocks like they purchase groceries, not like they purchase perfume.” — Benjamin Graham