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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 Micron Technology Inc. (NASD: MU) back in 2016, bought the stock, ignored the market’s ups and downs, and simply held through to today.

Start date: 08/03/2016
$10,000

08/03/2016
$57,471

08/02/2021
End date: 08/02/2021
Start price/share: $13.51
End price/share: $77.64
Starting shares: 740.19
Ending shares: 740.19
Dividends reinvested/share: $0.00
Total return: 474.69%
Average annual return: 41.87%
Starting investment: $10,000.00
Ending investment: $57,471.54

As we can see, the five year investment result worked out exceptionally well, with an annualized rate of return of 41.87%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 5 years ago into $57,471.54 today (as of 08/02/2021). On a total return basis, that’s a result of 474.69% (something to think about: how might MU shares perform over the next 5 years?). [These numbers were computed with the Dividend Channel DRIP Returns Calculator.]

More investment wisdom to ponder:
“The best way to measure your investing success is not by whether you’re beating the market but by whether you’ve put in place a financial plan and a behavioral discipline that are likely to get you where you want to go.” — Benjamin Graham

MU