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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 T-Mobile US Inc (NASD: TMUS) back in 2018, bought the stock, ignored the market’s ups and downs, and simply held through to today.

Start date: 01/25/2018
$10,000

01/25/2018
  $22,645

01/24/2023
End date: 01/24/2023
Start price/share: $64.39
End price/share: $145.81
Starting shares: 155.30
Ending shares: 155.30
Dividends reinvested/share: $0.00
Total return: 126.45%
Average annual return: 17.76%
Starting investment: $10,000.00
Ending investment: $22,645.87

As shown above, the five year investment result worked out exceptionally well, with an annualized rate of return of 17.76%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 5 years ago into $22,645.87 today (as of 01/24/2023). On a total return basis, that’s a result of 126.45% (something to think about: how might TMUS shares perform over the next 5 years?). [These numbers were computed with the Dividend Channel DRIP Returns Calculator.]

More investment wisdom to ponder:
“Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons.” — Woody Allen