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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 decade-long holding period for an investor who was considering Akamai Technologies Inc (NASD: AKAM) back in 2013, bought the stock, ignored the market’s ups and downs, and simply held through to today.

Start date: 08/16/2013
$10,000

08/16/2013
  $22,469

08/15/2023
End date: 08/15/2023
Start price/share: $45.91
End price/share: $103.11
Starting shares: 217.82
Ending shares: 217.82
Dividends reinvested/share: $0.00
Total return: 124.59%
Average annual return: 8.43%
Starting investment: $10,000.00
Ending investment: $22,469.37

The above analysis shows the decade-long investment result worked out well, with an annualized rate of return of 8.43%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 10 years ago into $22,469.37 today (as of 08/15/2023). On a total return basis, that’s a result of 124.59% (something to think about: how might AKAM shares perform over the next 10 years?). [These numbers were computed with the Dividend Channel DRIP Returns Calculator.]

More investment wisdom to ponder:
“Know what you own and why you own it.” — Peter Lynch