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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

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 decade-long holding period possibly?

Suppose a “buy-and-hold” investor was considering an investment into Caesars Entertainment Inc (NASD: CZR) back in 2015: back then, such an investor may have been pondering this very same question. Had they answered “yes” to a full decade-long investment time horizon and then actually held for these past 10 years, here’s how that investment would have turned out.

Start date: 07/01/2015
$10,000

07/01/2015
  $35,879

06/30/2025
End date: 06/30/2025
Start price/share: $7.91
End price/share: $28.39
Starting shares: 1,264.22
Ending shares: 1,264.22
Dividends reinvested/share: $0.00
Total return: 258.91%
Average annual return: 13.62%
Starting investment: $10,000.00
Ending investment: $35,879.94

As shown above, the decade-long investment result worked out quite well, with an annualized rate of return of 13.62%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 10 years ago into $35,879.94 today (as of 06/30/2025). On a total return basis, that’s a result of 258.91% (something to think about: how might CZR shares perform over the next 10 years?). [These numbers were computed with the Dividend Channel DRIP Returns Calculator.]

Here’s one more great investment quote before you go:
“When you sell in desperation, you always sell cheap.” — Peter Lynch