“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 Micron Technology Inc. (NASD: MU) back in 2010, bought the stock, ignored the market’s ups and downs, and simply held through to today.
| Start date: | 12/17/2010 |
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| End date: | 12/16/2020 | ||||
| Start price/share: | $8.21 | ||||
| End price/share: | $72.99 | ||||
| Starting shares: | 1,218.03 | ||||
| Ending shares: | 1,218.03 | ||||
| Dividends reinvested/share: | $0.00 | ||||
| Total return: | 789.04% | ||||
| Average annual return: | 24.41% | ||||
| Starting investment: | $10,000.00 | ||||
| Ending investment: | $88,934.99 | ||||
The above analysis shows the decade-long investment result worked out exceptionally well, with an annualized rate of return of 24.41%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 10 years ago into $88,934.99 today (as of 12/16/2020). On a total return basis, that’s a result of 789.04% (something to think about: how might MU shares perform over the next 10 years?). [These numbers were computed with the Dividend Channel DRIP Returns Calculator.]
More investment wisdom to ponder:
“I rarely think the market is right. I believe non-dividend stocks aren’t much more than baseball cards. They are worth what you can convince someone to pay for it.” — Mark Cuban
