Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A -0.02%) (BRK.B 0.07%) is well-known for delivering incredible returns for investors in the 60 years since Warren Buffett took control of the company -- and for good reason. Since Buffett took over in 1964, Berkshire has delivered an unbelievable 4,384,748% total return for investors.
Think about that for a minute. This means that a $10,000 investment in Berkshire at that time would be worth $438 million today. For comparison, a $10,000 investment in the S&P 500 over the same period would be worth $3.1 million -- still a respectable return, but not in the same ballpark.
What if you were late to the party?
That massive total-return figure makes an excellent statistic for writers like me to use. But the reality is that even most of the long-term investors reading this don't have a 60-year time horizon in mind. And let's face it -- very few people would have been interested in Berkshire Hathaway at the time (it was little more than a struggling textile company).
Berkshire Hathaway over the past 30 years
With that in mind, let's look at a more conceivable long-term investment time horizon -- 30 years. Let's say that you invested $1,000 in Berkshire Hathaway 30 years ago. At that point (1994), Warren Buffett had been in charge for four decades and Berkshire was already a massive success story.
However, Berkshire has continued to deliver market-beating performance. A $10,000 investment 30 years ago in Berkshire Hathaway would be worth $377,000 today. That's a 12.8% annualized return -- still well above the long-term average of the S&P 500.
The point is that thinking you're "late" to an investment that has been a winner for decades is a faulty mindset. In simple terms, winners keep on winning. And Berkshire Hathaway is a great example of that.
