I’m talking dividend growth not share price. You are right on with the time frame. I owe it all to one of my best friends. I had two best friends in college. One was very wealthy and one was very smart. The wealthy one was an orphan that lived off IBM dividends and a RE portfolio in NYC. I always admired his parents foresight and always talked about looking for my IBM. The very smart one was a Comp Sci major. One night we were hanging around talking about life and he told me about a company that was going public which would change the world. They had a disk operating system that was a huge improvement in computing technology. I didnt know anything about computers but I knew he was brilliant and well ahead of his time. He didnt have any money to invest but told me to buy some right after the IPO. I waited a few months as I wanted to buy a new car first after graduating.

Fast forward, 20 years. The wealthy one is still wealthy and travels the world writing. The very smart one is a very successful senior executive at an Internet company who has made and lost a fortune several times. FYI, among other things I took him to the Super Bowl a couple years ago for the trip of a lifetime. They still are two of my best friends.