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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 Waters Corp. (NYSE: WAT) back in 2015, bought the stock, ignored the market’s ups and downs, and simply held through to today.

Start date: 09/24/2015
$10,000

09/24/2015
$16,058

09/23/2020
End date: 09/23/2020
Start price/share: $118.72
End price/share: $190.60
Starting shares: 84.23
Ending shares: 84.23
Dividends reinvested/share: $0.00
Total return: 60.55%
Average annual return: 9.93%
Starting investment: $10,000.00
Ending investment: $16,058.09

As we can see, the five year investment result worked out well, with an annualized rate of return of 9.93%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 5 years ago into $16,058.09 today (as of 09/23/2020). On a total return basis, that’s a result of 60.55% (something to think about: how might WAT shares perform over the next 5 years?). [These numbers were computed with the Dividend Channel DRIP Returns Calculator.]

One more piece of investment wisdom to leave you with:
“Investing is the intersection of economics and psychology.” — Seth Klarman