They say that the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. It was also a good time to have bought shares in many of the big companies that now dominate today’s market. If only we knew.
For some of us, 20 years ago may not seem that long ago. Many of us still remember days when ‘apple’ was just fruit, ‘the cloud’ was just atmospheric vapour, and ‘Amazon’ referred to a place teeming with forest life, not plastic widgets.
Just like your tree sapling decades ago, the behemoth companies of today were still at a relatively early stage of their growth, at least compared to their present-day magnitude.
Of course, growth requires change, and things are always changing. Market prices are no exception.
For example, say you’d bought shares in Apple Inc (AAPL) around 20 years ago. By then, the company would have been on the US stock exchange for more two decades (having launched its IPO in 1980).
In February 2005 (when perhaps you were wishing you’d already bought the shares 20 years earlier) Apple shares were selling for USD $1.55. That was more than 3 years after the debut of the (now discontinued) iPod.
When the first ever iPhone was released in June 2007, the share price rang in at USD $4.36.
Enter the iPad (in 2010) and – swiping between your new finance apps – you’d have seen Apple shares selling at USD $8.52.
By the time the Apple watch debuted (in 2015), (Apple) scrolling had become more common (and dare I say harder to resist?) than actual apple scrolls.
The company’s share price at the time? USD $32.57.
…Had we stopped at this point to look up from our devices and do the calculations, the shares we’d (hopefully) bought back in 2005 would have seen – over those 10 years – a sugary-sweet increase of 2001%. Yes, that’s two thousand and one per cent. A lot of apple scrolls.
That giant Apple tree has busted through the pavement.
On 1 July 2024 – the closing price of Apple shares were USD $216.75.
Of course, no one could have predicted the rise of Apple, or any of the world’s top companies – and we won’t be able to predict the rise of future ones either.
20-20 hindsight is crystal clear, but no one can be certain what changes the future will bring.
Investment involves risk.
Trouble is, with all sapling companies, you don’t know if they’re an Apple or not.
Fortunately, a long-term, diversified approach to investment doesn’t rely on guessing whether individual companies will do well or not. But time does matter.
…So, yes, as the saying goes, 20 years was a good time to plant a tree. The next best time is now.
May all your efforts be fruitful.
If you’d like to sow the seeds for your financial future, call to speak with an adviser at Align Financial on (02) 9913 9995.
Information on Apple’s historic share price and growth sourced from:
https://moneymorning.com/2015/05/01/an-apple-stock-history-timeline/
