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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

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 Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc (NYSE: CMG) 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: 05/20/2013
$10,000

05/20/2013
  $54,711

05/17/2023
End date: 05/17/2023
Start price/share: $376.87
End price/share: $2,062.01
Starting shares: 26.53
Ending shares: 26.53
Dividends reinvested/share: $0.00
Total return: 447.14%
Average annual return: 18.53%
Starting investment: $10,000.00
Ending investment: $54,711.75

As shown above, the ten year investment result worked out exceptionally well, with an annualized rate of return of 18.53%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 10 years ago into $54,711.75 today (as of 05/17/2023). On a total return basis, that’s a result of 447.14% (something to think about: how might CMG shares perform over the next 10 years?). [These numbers were computed with the Dividend Channel DRIP Returns Calculator.]

Another great investment quote to think about:
“Every day that you’re not selling an asset in your portfolio, you’re choosing to buy it.” — Sam Zell