Photo credit: commons.wikimedia.org

“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 Align Technology Inc (NASD: ALGN) back in 2011, bought the stock, ignored the market’s ups and downs, and simply held through to today.

Start date: 04/11/2011
$10,000

04/11/2011
$273,733

04/08/2021
End date: 04/08/2021
Start price/share: $21.04
End price/share: $575.75
Starting shares: 475.29
Ending shares: 475.29
Dividends reinvested/share: $0.00
Total return: 2,636.45%
Average annual return: 39.23%
Starting investment: $10,000.00
Ending investment: $273,733.68

The above analysis shows the decade-long investment result worked out exceptionally well, with an annualized rate of return of 39.23%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 10 years ago into $273,733.68 today (as of 04/08/2021). On a total return basis, that’s a result of 2,636.45% (something to think about: how might ALGN shares perform over the next 10 years?). [These numbers were computed with the Dividend Channel DRIP Returns Calculator.]

More investment wisdom to ponder:
“In investing, what is comfortable is rarely profitable.” — Robert Arnott