Photo credit: commons.wikimedia.org

“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 Salesforce Inc (NYSE: CRM) back in 2017, bought the stock, ignored the market’s ups and downs, and simply held through to today.

Start date: 11/17/2017
$10,000

11/17/2017
  $14,416

11/16/2022
End date: 11/16/2022
Start price/share: $107.58
End price/share: $155.12
Starting shares: 92.95
Ending shares: 92.95
Dividends reinvested/share: $0.00
Total return: 44.19%
Average annual return: 7.59%
Starting investment: $10,000.00
Ending investment: $14,416.49

As shown above, the five year investment result worked out well, with an annualized rate of return of 7.59%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 5 years ago into $14,416.49 today (as of 11/16/2022). On a total return basis, that’s a result of 44.19% (something to think about: how might CRM shares perform over the next 5 years?). [These numbers were computed with the Dividend Channel DRIP Returns Calculator.]

One more investment quote to leave you with:
“In the short run, the market is a voting machine but in the long run, it is a weighing machine.” — Benjamin Graham