Photo credit: commons.wikimedia.org

“Only buy something that you’d be perfectly happy to hold if the market shut down for 10 years.”

— 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 ten year holding period possibly?

Suppose a “buy-and-hold” investor was considering an investment into Amazon.com Inc (NASD: AMZN) back in 2013: back then, such an investor may have been pondering this very same question. Had they answered “yes” to a full ten year investment time horizon and then actually held for these past 10 years, here’s how that investment would have turned out.

Start date: 02/27/2013
$10,000

02/27/2013
$71,056

02/24/2023
End date: 02/24/2023
Start price/share: $13.16
End price/share: $93.50
Starting shares: 759.88
Ending shares: 759.88
Dividends reinvested/share: $0.00
Total return: 610.49%
Average annual return: 21.67%
Starting investment: $10,000.00
Ending investment: $71,056.15

The above analysis shows the ten year investment result worked out exceptionally well, with an annualized rate of return of 21.67%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 10 years ago into $71,056.15 today (as of 02/24/2023). On a total return basis, that’s a result of 610.49% (something to think about: how might AMZN shares perform over the next 10 years?). [These numbers were computed with the Dividend Channel DRIP Returns Calculator.]

More investment wisdom to ponder:
“He who earns and does not invest will have to work for the rest of his life.” — Debasish Mridha