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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 Salesforce Inc (NYSE: CRM) back in 2018, bought the stock, ignored the market’s ups and downs, and simply held through to today.

Start date: 03/29/2018
$10,000

03/29/2018
  $16,534

03/28/2023
End date: 03/28/2023
Start price/share: $116.30
End price/share: $192.30
Starting shares: 85.98
Ending shares: 85.98
Dividends reinvested/share: $0.00
Total return: 65.35%
Average annual return: 10.58%
Starting investment: $10,000.00
Ending investment: $16,534.19

As we can see, the five year investment result worked out quite well, with an annualized rate of return of 10.58%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 5 years ago into $16,534.19 today (as of 03/28/2023). On a total return basis, that’s a result of 65.35% (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 piece of investment wisdom to leave you with:
“The four most dangerous words in investing are: ‘this time it’s different.'” — Sir John Templeton

CRM