“When we own portions of outstanding businesses with outstanding managements, our favorite holding period is forever.”
— 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 twenty year holding period for an investor who was considering Fiserv Inc (NYSE: FI) back in 2004, bought the stock, ignored the market’s ups and downs, and simply held through to today.
Start date: | 06/18/2004 |
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End date: | 06/17/2024 | ||||
Start price/share: | $38.28 | ||||
End price/share: | $149.73 | ||||
Starting shares: | 261.23 | ||||
Ending shares: | 261.23 | ||||
Dividends reinvested/share: | $0.00 | ||||
Total return: | 291.14% | ||||
Average annual return: | 7.05% | ||||
Starting investment: | $10,000.00 | ||||
Ending investment: | $39,089.28 |
The above analysis shows the twenty year investment result worked out well, with an annualized rate of return of 7.05%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 20 years ago into $39,089.28 today (as of 06/17/2024). On a total return basis, that’s a result of 291.14% (something to think about: how might FI shares perform over the next 20 years?). [These numbers were computed with the Dividend Channel DRIP Returns Calculator.]
More investment wisdom to ponder:
“It’s not whether you’re right or wrong that’s important, but how much money you make when you’re right and how much you lose when you’re wrong.” — George Soros