“I buy on the assumption that they could close the market the next day and not reopen it for five years.”
— Warren Buffett
The wisdom of Warren Buffett reflects a value-based philosophy about investing that says investors are buying shares in a business, and encourages strategic thinking about investment time horizon. Before placing a buy order for a stock, a great question we can ask is whether we would still be comfortable making the investment if we couldn’t sell it for many years?
A “buy-and-hold” approach may call for a time horizon that spans a long period of time — maybe even lasting for a five year holding period. Suppose such a “buy-and-hold” investor had looked into buying shares of United Airlines Holdings Inc (NASD: UAL) back in 2020. Let’s take a look at how such an investment would have worked out for that buy-and-hold investor:
| Start date: | 09/11/2020 |
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| End date: | 09/10/2025 | ||||
| Start price/share: | $36.07 | ||||
| End price/share: | $107.51 | ||||
| Starting shares: | 277.24 | ||||
| Ending shares: | 277.24 | ||||
| Dividends reinvested/share: | $0.00 | ||||
| Total return: | 198.06% | ||||
| Average annual return: | 24.41% | ||||
| Starting investment: | $10,000.00 | ||||
| Ending investment: | $29,804.13 | ||||
As shown above, the five year investment result worked out exceptionally well, with an annualized rate of return of 24.41%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 5 years ago into $29,804.13 today (as of 09/10/2025). On a total return basis, that’s a result of 198.06% (something to think about: how might UAL shares perform over the next 5 years?). [These numbers were computed with the Dividend Channel DRIP Returns Calculator.]
Here’s one more great investment quote before you go:
“The four most dangerous words in investing are: ‘this time it’s different.'” — Sir John Templeton
