“Only buy something that you’d be perfectly happy to hold if the market shut down for 10 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 decade-long holding period for an investor who was considering Carmax Inc. (NYSE: KMX) back in 2010, bought the stock, ignored the market’s ups and downs, and simply held through to today.
Start date: | 01/19/2010 |
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End date: | 01/16/2020 | ||||
Start price/share: | $22.85 | ||||
End price/share: | $94.70 | ||||
Starting shares: | 437.64 | ||||
Ending shares: | 437.64 | ||||
Dividends reinvested/share: | $0.00 | ||||
Total return: | 314.44% | ||||
Average annual return: | 15.28% | ||||
Starting investment: | $10,000.00 | ||||
Ending investment: | $41,435.30 |
As we can see, the decade-long investment result worked out exceptionally well, with an annualized rate of return of 15.28%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 10 years ago into $41,435.30 today (as of 01/16/2020). On a total return basis, that’s a result of 314.44% (something to think about: how might KMX shares perform over the next 10 years?). [These numbers were computed with the Dividend Channel DRIP Returns Calculator.]
More investment wisdom to ponder:
“Markets are constantly in a state of uncertainty and flux and money is made by discounting the obvious and betting on the unexpected.” — George Soros