“I buy on the assumption that they could close the market the next day and not reopen it for five 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 five year holding period possibly?
Suppose a “buy-and-hold” investor was considering an investment into Adobe Inc (NASD: ADBE) back in 2018: back then, such an investor may have been pondering this very same question. Had they answered “yes” to a full five year investment time horizon and then actually held for these past 5 years, here’s how that investment would have turned out.
Start date: | 09/18/2018 |
|
|||
End date: | 09/15/2023 | ||||
Start price/share: | $270.79 | ||||
End price/share: | $528.89 | ||||
Starting shares: | 36.93 | ||||
Ending shares: | 36.93 | ||||
Dividends reinvested/share: | $0.00 | ||||
Total return: | 95.31% | ||||
Average annual return: | 14.34% | ||||
Starting investment: | $10,000.00 | ||||
Ending investment: | $19,528.64 |
As shown above, the five year investment result worked out quite well, with an annualized rate of return of 14.34%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 5 years ago into $19,528.64 today (as of 09/15/2023). On a total return basis, that’s a result of 95.31% (something to think about: how might ADBE 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:
“Opportunities come infrequently. When it rains gold, put out the bucket, not the thimble.” — Warren Buffett