“Only buy something that you’d be perfectly happy to hold if the market shut down for 10 years.”
— Warren Buffett
The Warren Buffett investment philosophy calls for a long-term investment horizon, where a decade-long holding period, or even longer, would fit right into the strategy. How would such a strategy have worked out for an investment into Tesla Inc (NASD: TSLA)? Today, we examine the outcome of a decade-long investment into the stock back in 2016.
| Start date: | 02/04/2016 |
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| End date: | 02/03/2026 | ||||
| Start price/share: | $11.69 | ||||
| End price/share: | $421.96 | ||||
| Starting shares: | 855.43 | ||||
| Ending shares: | 855.43 | ||||
| Dividends reinvested/share: | $0.00 | ||||
| Total return: | 3,509.58% | ||||
| Average annual return: | 43.11% | ||||
| Starting investment: | $10,000.00 | ||||
| Ending investment: | $361,037.91 | ||||
As shown above, the decade-long investment result worked out exceptionally well, with an annualized rate of return of 43.11%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 10 years ago into $361,037.91 today (as of 02/03/2026). On a total return basis, that’s a result of 3,509.58% (something to think about: how might TSLA shares perform over the next 10 years?). [These numbers were computed with the Dividend Channel DRIP Returns Calculator.]
Another great investment quote to think about:
“Unless you can watch your stock holding decline by 50% without becoming panic-stricken, you should not be in the stock market.” — Warren Buffett
