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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 O’Reilly Automotive, Inc. (NASD: ORLY) back in 2012, bought the stock, ignored the market’s ups and downs, and simply held through to today.

Start date: 07/23/2012
$10,000

07/23/2012
$76,426

07/20/2022
End date: 07/20/2022
Start price/share: $90.30
End price/share: $689.96
Starting shares: 110.74
Ending shares: 110.74
Dividends reinvested/share: $0.00
Total return: 664.08%
Average annual return: 22.56%
Starting investment: $10,000.00
Ending investment: $76,426.76

As we can see, the ten year investment result worked out exceptionally well, with an annualized rate of return of 22.56%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 10 years ago into $76,426.76 today (as of 07/20/2022). On a total return basis, that’s a result of 664.08% (something to think about: how might ORLY shares perform over the next 10 years?). [These numbers were computed with the Dividend Channel DRIP Returns Calculator.]

One more piece of investment wisdom to leave you with:
“Don’t wait for the perfect time, you will wait forever. Always take advantage of the time you’re given and make it perfect.” — Daymond John