“Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.”
— Warren Buffett
Investors can learn a lot from Warren Buffett, whose above quote teaches the importance of thinking about investment time horizon, and asking ourselves before buying any given stock: can we envision holding onto it for years — even a two-decade holding period possibly?
Suppose a “buy-and-hold” investor was considering an investment into United Rentals Inc (NYSE: URI) back in 2001: back then, such an investor may have been pondering this very same question. Had they answered “yes” to a full two-decade investment time horizon and then actually held for these past 20 years, here’s how that investment would have turned out.
| Start date: | 10/22/2001 |
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| End date: | 10/19/2021 | ||||
| Start price/share: | $17.50 | ||||
| End price/share: | $353.44 | ||||
| Starting shares: | 571.43 | ||||
| Ending shares: | 571.43 | ||||
| Dividends reinvested/share: | $0.00 | ||||
| Total return: | 1,919.66% | ||||
| Average annual return: | 16.21% | ||||
| Starting investment: | $10,000.00 | ||||
| Ending investment: | $201,942.40 | ||||
As we can see, the two-decade investment result worked out exceptionally well, with an annualized rate of return of 16.21%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 20 years ago into $201,942.40 today (as of 10/19/2021). On a total return basis, that’s a result of 1,919.66% (something to think about: how might URI 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:
“If you don’t study any companies, you have the same success buying stocks as you do in a poker game if you bet without looking at your cards.” — Peter Lynch
