Warren Buffett Wrote “Buy American. I Am.” 18 Years Ago This Week. Should You Still Follow His Advice?
On Oct. 16, 2008, in the middle of the financial crisis, Warren Buffett published an op-ed in The New York Times called “Buy American. I Am.” It ran in the paper’s print edition the next morning. That day, the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX:^GSPC) closed at around 941, already down about 40% from its October 2007 record.
From that Oct. 17 close, the index dropped another 28% before it hit bottom on March 9, 2009.
But anybody who bought that day and hung on has done extremely well. By my math, $10,000 put in the State Street SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSEMKT:SPY) at the Oct. 17, 2008, close would be worth around $115,600 as of this writing, with dividends reinvested. The money has grown about 11.6-fold, or almost 15% a year.
Source: www.fool.com — article syndicated from the publisher’s feed; all rights remain with the original publisher.