“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 ten year holding period for an investor who was considering Gartner Inc (NYSE: IT) back in 2009, bought the stock, ignored the market’s ups and downs, and simply held through to today.
| Start date: | 09/04/2009 |
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| End date: | 09/03/2019 | ||||
| Start price/share: | $16.93 | ||||
| End price/share: | $132.46 | ||||
| Starting shares: | 590.67 | ||||
| Ending shares: | 590.67 | ||||
| Dividends reinvested/share: | $0.00 | ||||
| Total return: | 682.40% | ||||
| Average annual return: | 22.83% | ||||
| Starting investment: | $10,000.00 | ||||
| Ending investment: | $78,214.84 | ||||
The above analysis shows the ten year investment result worked out exceptionally well, with an annualized rate of return of 22.83%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 10 years ago into $78,214.84 today (as of 09/03/2019). On a total return basis, that’s a result of 682.40% (something to think about: how might IT shares perform over the next 10 years?). [These numbers were computed with the Dividend Channel DRIP Returns Calculator.]
More investment wisdom to ponder:
“In the long run, it’s not just how much money you make that will determine your future prosperity. It’s how much of that money you put to work by saving it and investing it.” — Peter Lynch
