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“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 ten year holding period for an investor who was considering Adobe Inc (NASD: ADBE) back in 2012, bought the stock, ignored the market’s ups and downs, and simply held through to today.

Start date: 03/19/2012
$10,000

03/19/2012
$128,218

03/16/2022
End date: 03/16/2022
Start price/share: $34.51
End price/share: $442.36
Starting shares: 289.77
Ending shares: 289.77
Dividends reinvested/share: $0.00
Total return: 1,181.83%
Average annual return: 29.07%
Starting investment: $10,000.00
Ending investment: $128,218.14

As we can see, the ten year investment result worked out exceptionally well, with an annualized rate of return of 29.07%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 10 years ago into $128,218.14 today (as of 03/16/2022). On a total return basis, that’s a result of 1,181.83% (something to think about: how might ADBE shares perform over the next 10 years?). [These numbers were computed with the Dividend Channel DRIP Returns Calculator.]

One more investment quote to leave you with:
“The underlying principles of sound investment should not alter from decade to decade, but the application of these principles must be adapted to significant changes in the financial mechanisms and climate.” — Benjamin Graham