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“Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.”

— 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 two-decade holding period for an investor who was considering DaVita Inc (NYSE: DVA) back in 2001, bought the stock, ignored the market’s ups and downs, and simply held through to today.

Start date: 06/14/2001
$10,000

06/14/2001
$202,987

06/11/2021
End date: 06/11/2021
Start price/share: $6.02
End price/share: $122.27
Starting shares: 1,661.13
Ending shares: 1,661.13
Dividends reinvested/share: $0.00
Total return: 1,931.06%
Average annual return: 16.24%
Starting investment: $10,000.00
Ending investment: $202,987.89

As shown above, the two-decade investment result worked out exceptionally well, with an annualized rate of return of 16.24%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 20 years ago into $202,987.89 today (as of 06/11/2021). On a total return basis, that’s a result of 1,931.06% (something to think about: how might DVA shares perform over the next 20 years?). [These numbers were computed with the Dividend Channel DRIP Returns Calculator.]

One more piece of investment wisdom to leave you with:
“Most investors want to do today what they should have done yesterday.” — Larry Summers