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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 decade-long holding period possibly?

Suppose a “buy-and-hold” investor was considering an investment into Adobe Inc (NASD: ADBE) back in 2014: back then, such an investor may have been pondering this very same question. Had they answered “yes” to a full decade-long investment time horizon and then actually held for these past 10 years, here’s how that investment would have turned out.

Start date: 10/07/2014
$10,000

10/07/2014
  $76,907

10/04/2024
End date: 10/04/2024
Start price/share: $65.96
End price/share: $507.22
Starting shares: 151.61
Ending shares: 151.61
Dividends reinvested/share: $0.00
Total return: 668.98%
Average annual return: 22.63%
Starting investment: $10,000.00
Ending investment: $76,907.25

The above analysis shows the decade-long investment result worked out exceptionally well, with an annualized rate of return of 22.63%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 10 years ago into $76,907.25 today (as of 10/04/2024). On a total return basis, that’s a result of 668.98% (something to think about: how might ADBE shares perform over the next 10 years?). [These numbers were computed with the Dividend Channel DRIP Returns Calculator.]

More investment wisdom to ponder:
“A risk-reward ratio is important, but so is an aggravation-satisfaction ratio.” — Muriel Siebert