“Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.”
— 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 two-decade holding period for an investor who was considering F5 Networks, Inc. (NASD: FFIV) back in 2000, bought the stock, ignored the market’s ups and downs, and simply held through to today.
| Start date: | 09/25/2000 |
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| End date: | 09/22/2020 | ||||
| Start price/share: | $19.46 | ||||
| End price/share: | $120.35 | ||||
| Starting shares: | 513.87 | ||||
| Ending shares: | 513.87 | ||||
| Dividends reinvested/share: | $0.00 | ||||
| Total return: | 518.45% | ||||
| Average annual return: | 9.54% | ||||
| Starting investment: | $10,000.00 | ||||
| Ending investment: | $61,897.28 | ||||
As shown above, the two-decade investment result worked out well, with an annualized rate of return of 9.54%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 20 years ago into $61,897.28 today (as of 09/22/2020). On a total return basis, that’s a result of 518.45% (something to think about: how might FFIV shares perform over the next 20 years?). [These numbers were computed with the Dividend Channel DRIP Returns Calculator.]
One more investment quote to leave you with:
“I learned early that there is nothing new in Wall Street. There can’t be because speculation is as old as the hills. Whatever happens in the stock market today has happened before and will happen again. I’ve never forgotten that.” — Jesse Livermore
