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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

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 ten year holding period for an investor who was considering F5 Inc (NASD: FFIV) back in 2015, bought the stock, ignored the market’s ups and downs, and simply held through to today.

Start date: 03/10/2015
$10,000

03/10/2015
  $24,556

03/07/2025
End date: 03/07/2025
Start price/share: $112.29
End price/share: $275.63
Starting shares: 89.06
Ending shares: 89.06
Dividends reinvested/share: $0.00
Total return: 145.46%
Average annual return: 9.40%
Starting investment: $10,000.00
Ending investment: $24,556.88

The above analysis shows the ten year investment result worked out well, with an annualized rate of return of 9.40%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 10 years ago into $24,556.88 today (as of 03/07/2025). On a total return basis, that’s a result of 145.46% (something to think about: how might FFIV shares perform over the next 10 years?). [These numbers were computed with the Dividend Channel DRIP Returns Calculator.]

More investment wisdom to ponder:
“You get recessions, you have stock market declines. If you don’t understand that’s going to happen, then you’re not ready, you won’t do well in the markets.” — Peter Lynch