What was your longest held stock and what was the return?

[Jurgis]

What is your longest held stock? From when to when did you hold it? What was the annualized return on it? What portfolio percentage (approximately) was it? Any lessons you learned from the experience?

 

Only stocks that were continuously held for the whole period please.

 

It's up to you if you want to include board namesakes BRK and FFH.

 

To exhibit my total incapability to hold anything long term, I don't know what I have held for very long. I believe I may still have some shares of BRK I bought ~2008-2009. Probably my longest held position... And it probably was ~1% of my portfolio at most.

 

Maybe others have more interesting stories.  8)

[wachtwoord]

I've held Altius Minerals for nearly 3 years now. I have a 20% negative return (excluding dividends) on my initial investment but I bought way more on the way down (and sold some of it too). Net on a cost basis I'm up 11% on my position (excluding dividends). I have been investing for 6 years.

 

EDIT:

 

You mean what you're currently holding still? If not, I have quite a few I held for longer. For example MSFT for over 4 years at ~90% return excluding dividends (my first purchase). I think I held BAMM for over 5 years at a small loss.

 

Edit 2:

 

Altius is ~12% of my portfolio. MSFT I think was around 20-25% at the max (after running up).

[Paarslaars]

BRK is my longest held position, almost 5 years now, made about 100% return on that part.

It was at the time a 30% position.

Currently still holding (and added at 130$ in the beginning of 2016).

It is now a 20% position

 

Excluding that, I have not held a lot of stocks for very long, usually 1-2 years.

I would say BAC for 3 years (2012-2015) for a 125% return.

Originally also 30% of the portfolio. Did buy in the brexit dip again at 12$ and sold at 17$ in oktober.

No longer holding this one.

[boilermaker75]

I purchased INTC in 1976 and sold my last shares of that initial purchase sometime in 2001.

 

I had certificates in a lock box and that was probably the reason I was able to hold them. If they had been in street name I would probably not have held them as long as I did.

[CassiusKing1]

When I was 19 years old I started buying INTC stock.  Still have them sitting in a brokerage account.  Not sure what the return has been over the past 25 years though.

[orthopa]

Altria bought in 08-09 and still holding. up 329% plus ~32 dividends reinvested along the way. Wish it was longer but just started investing at that time.

[dcollon]

I bought JNJ in 1988.  I have not sold a share, but did add to the original position during the financial crisis. 

My original cost adjusted for splits is roughly $5 and JNJ is now paying a dividend of $3.20 per share.  My average cost on my whole position is roughly $8.50.

 

The total return hasn't been great.  I certainly have done better over shorter periods of time with other holdings, but it's been a great lesson to watch my JNJ holding compound at about 13% a year over the long-term. 

 

This the example that I have used when speaking to my children or students.  It's an easy story to tell. 

[crastogi]

July 2002.  Brk.  Return 330%

 

I usually hold stocks for 2 to 5 years (till it reaches my estimate of fair value, but have never sold BRK.  )

 

 

[Guest longinvestor]

FFH: Sold already; Realized gains of over 3x; purchases between 2002-04; Sold 2011-12

BRK: Holding; Unrealized gains around 3x; Started buying in 2005; a lot more 2008-09. some more in 2011-12; Sell? over my....  ....

 

LVLT: Holding: Roughly a 9% time weighted annual return; Bought some 2002-05; a whole lot more 2007-09; Exit strategy is developing.

 

True to my handle, 10 year ago, I used to be fascinated with the concept of holding for the long term because I did nothing of that sort. I never went back to calculate my returns before then because I don't have to, it was below zero. Thanks to dotcom and financial advisors. Tattooed all over me now.

 

And I will be remiss if I don't mention one that I held for a short term, PCLN; Used to be a frequent customer of airline tickets in the 90's on Priceline, was fascinated by the success they were having, so thought, why not buy some stock; Bought at $3 sold at $10 a year or so later during dotcom years. The next time I looked at PCLN was a few years ago. $1000. After rubbing my eyes, went back to check if there were not any stock reverse splits etc. Surely we all have at least one story like this. Of course, I won't talk about those names that went to zero. I was made to remember them by the numerous securities settlement lawyers trying to communicate with me!

 

Ask me about about long term investing.Better yet, listen to Buffett / Munger, wealth will more than be preserved;)

 

 

[gjangal]

Mastercard from late 2011, early 2012 and still holding on.  The problem with investing in compounders is you get too few opportunities to deploy cash and you have to be ready to do so in a large percentage, otherwise there is no point. Have had my mistakes of selling goog, hdb and sbux after just doubling my money. Lost money in apple in 2013 and watched it double after that. Very painful

 

 

[Hawks]

atd.b on TSE. up about 90% with 7-8 years holding period.

[cwericb]

This is probably ‘small potatoes to most here but these investments have been significant to me.

 

In 1993 I acquired 240 shares of Royal Trustco worth about $2400 CDN. Then they became Gentra Inc in 1997,  BPO Properties, (part of Brookfield) in 2004, then BOX.UN - Brookfield Office Properties Canada in 2010 and is now considering a buyout offer from Brookfield Property Partners. Going back that far it becomes difficult to keep the facts straight, but this is my recollection.

 

During the time I held them, along with regular dividends, there have been several “special dividends”. In 2004 they paid out a dividend of about 25%, and one other time I believe there was a special payout of nearly 50% of share value. In the past several years the regular dividends have averaged about 4.5% per year, but combined with another special dividend last year they paid out a total 15.3% for 2016.

 

The original 240 shares have now increased to about 1,000 shares after going through the various buyouts. The shares are presently about $31.50 CDN - about $31,500 total and this number doesn't include some of the special dividends.

 

If the buyout from Brookfield goes through it will be a cash payout and the end of the line for those original shares.  There is speculation that the offer may increase before then. The proceeds will either remain in cash for a while or be reinvested into one of the Brookfield entities.

 

I bought Fairfax in 2007 at $228 (today $620)and added through the years and have no complaints.

 

The problem now with long term holdings is capital gains tax. Should Canada increase the rate from 50% to 75% of gains being taxable I will be in trouble if and when I sell.

 

PS. I have also held Royal Bank since 2007 at $48 and it has twice split since then and is today about $97.50. Have added several times since then.

[SharperDingaan]

For us - most things are held with long horizons in mind, as we use time to diminish our risks.

Either we average down & wait (forever) for things to turn - FBK, IRON; or we're trading cycles - PD; or we're deliberately going the buy & hold forever approach - SAN, property, etc. 

 

Our longest hold has probably been PD - across 3 cycles now.

We used to do just the long side of the cycle, now we do the short side as well.

 

If you can tolerate large negative swings, & have the patience, there is a lot to be said for it.

Very few can actually do it though.

 

SD

 

 

[Studesy]

I've held BAM.A (Brookfield Asset Management) since Q1 of 2009. Purchase price was $11.28.  Its current price is $48.32.  This is roughly 20% annualized.  BAM also pays roughly a 1% dividend.  Initially, this was a 10% position....I have sold roughly half of the position since then.

 

I have also held BAC since 2009-10.  I think most here are familiar with the returns here over this period.  I have trimmed the position over the last year by roughly 10%.

 

Patiently waiting for the next opportunity. 

 

On another note, but in light of the topic at hand.....An interesting exercise is to go back through your investment transactions of 5, 10, 15 years ago and investigate how these investments would have performed had they been held (and never sold).  The annualized returns of such an approach may just surprise you (especially for holdings outside registered accounts).  Fewer decisions= less chance of mistakes??

I suspect the results may be less favorable for cigar butt type stocks (ie. holding for 10 yrs.).     

[CorpRaider]

CCL, from 8 years old; held for like uh 30 years.  I think it was maybe a 6 bagger.

[Uccmal]

In my kids RESP.  BMO for 10-11 yrs, possibly 12:  Up 310 %, not including the dividend.  Similar with RY - I know I bought RY way back then but have added so my acb is higher than BMO. 

 

Gotta love Cdn Banks.  They keep raising fees and making more money. 

 

BCE in my Wife's account.  Bought just after the acquisition blowup in 2008.  Around $25.00 per share.  As above the ACB is not easily computable.  Those intial shares have doubled and paid an increasing dividend every year.

 

With SSW the orginal shares were long gone by the time I got out this year but I held continuoulsy since 2008.  Made alot in the early days, lost some in the past year.  Final tally undetermined.  I reimvested those huge divdends elsewhere so it becomes uncomputable. 

[Jurgis]

On another note, but in light of the topic at hand.....An interesting exercise is to go back through your investment transactions of 5, 10, 15 years ago and investigate how these investments would have performed had they been held (and never sold).  The annualized returns of such an approach may just surprise you (especially for holdings outside registered accounts).  Fewer decisions= less chance of mistakes??

I suspect the results may be less favorable for cigar butt type stocks (ie. holding for 10 yrs.).   

 

Yeah, I think it's a good exercise. I've owned (and own) too many stocks to do it. It's easy to remember the ones that were huge mistakes of selling (or not buying, or buying too small position). I think I've mentioned them already: AAPL, GOOG, ARM, Tencent, various Liberties, BRK, MNST (before it was called MNST), ORCL, ADBE, NKE, SBUX, NFLX. I've owned most of these for millisecond or a bit longer. And at least considered the remaining ones.

 

But yeah, there are stocks that I've sold and that eventually went to zero. And probably some that went flattish/down - most semis and semiequips I'd guess.

 

I've been planning to go down a memory lane of my buys/sells sometime. I've got some record of that on SI.

[rogermunibond]

DIS - 2005 355%

BRK - 2006 144%

ATSG - 2008 6479%

 

Still hold all three, though I sold 1/3 of my ATSG holding last year.

[Guest longinvestor]

I purchased INTC in 1976 and sold my last shares of that initial purchase sometime in 2001.

 

I had certificates in a lock box and that was probably the reason I was able to hold them. If they had been in street name I would probably not have held them as long as I did.

 

Great post! I heard a similar real story from a friend of mine whose grandma has some share certificates locked up in a chest. The family found it after her passing. She worked at Wrigley in Chicago.

 

What we truly need to protect our money from is our own emotions. Not so much interest rates, cycles, recessions etc. If this is not an investment lesson for all of us, I don't know what else is!

[KCLarkin]

atd.b on TSE. up about 90% with 7-8 years holding period.

 

I assume this is a typo? You mean 900%? I've owned since 2009 and it is up 1200%. Sadly, it was a tiny position.

 

 

[John Hjorth]

As I have posted before on this board, I ended up with regard to work situation and indebtness in dire straits just after the the 08' - 09' financial crisis. It took me years to get back to a comfortable indebtness level compared to income, based on what happened in '08 and '09. I was totally focused on paying down debt, so that it would never happen again, after being a bond investor in tax deferred accounts for about 15 years.

 

On 10^th September 2012 I had paid down so much debt, that I took the plunge to buy a few shares, thereby shifting from totally liablities management focus, to combined asset and liabilities management. I bought a few shares of BRK.B at 86.64 - after having trouble for several months to find a place where to buy and put into account, whitout a prohibitive drag with regard to account fees and trading fees.

 

IRR pre tax on that particular buy now around 19.4 percent, measured in my own functional curency DKK. I have been averaging up "a bit" since then to about 29 times in number of shares on total level. No regrets so far. In short: It was a good start.

[undervalued]

I've held BAC, WFC and LUK since start of recession 2008ish. Still holding them now but have been reducing LUK a little bit. I bought and some a few others, ATSG, MCO, AXP, HD, and all other multibaggers if I didn't sold. I guess what we can learn from this thread is that you should buy and hold and let it ride. Even those stocks that have chance of going to zero, 1 of them did ZINC and it was painful. But then again, what should one do when one strategy involves copying other successful investors? When they zag, what are you suppose to do?

[SlowAppreciation]

I've had AAPL since 2003. Split adjusted I think I'm up something like 1700%. I've added to it over the years.

 

Sold half in 2015 to pay off student loans, but still hold the other half (plus the other shares I've purchased along the way).

[Hawks]

KCLarkin

You may be correct; I don't track stocks in the detail that you may. But I know it's at least a triple.

[rb]

My longest running position is TD. Bought it in 2006 back then it was about 30% of the portfolio. Did about 12% CAGR since then. Not earth shattering but not bad either.

 

Let me build a bit on what some have said here. Basically if you hold a well performing stock (muti bagger, etc) in a cash account you're stuck with it. When you take into account the tax hit on sale most times it's more profitable to continue holding it rather than sell it even if it will under perform. People should think more about after-tax returns rather than pre-tax which is the norm. It will help a lot with not selling compounders and they may be rather pleased with the results.