Photo credit: commons.wikimedia.org

“I buy on the assumption that they could close the market the next day and not reopen it for five 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 five year holding period possibly?

Suppose a “buy-and-hold” investor was considering an investment into United Rentals Inc (NYSE: URI) back in 2015: back then, such an investor may have been pondering this very same question. Had they answered “yes” to a full five year investment time horizon and then actually held for these past 5 years, here’s how that investment would have turned out.

Start date: 09/03/2015
$10,000

09/03/2015
$27,208

09/02/2020
End date: 09/02/2020
Start price/share: $67.83
End price/share: $184.58
Starting shares: 147.43
Ending shares: 147.43
Dividends reinvested/share: $0.00
Total return: 172.12%
Average annual return: 22.15%
Starting investment: $10,000.00
Ending investment: $27,208.55

As we can see, the five year investment result worked out exceptionally well, with an annualized rate of return of 22.15%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 5 years ago into $27,208.55 today (as of 09/02/2020). On a total return basis, that’s a result of 172.12% (something to think about: how might URI shares perform over the next 5 years?). [These numbers were computed with the Dividend Channel DRIP Returns Calculator.]

Another great investment quote to think about:
“We don’t have to be smarter than the rest. We have to be more disciplined than the rest.” — Warren Buffett