One of the simplest and best pieces of investment advice out there is 'invest for the long-term'. I think this is a great philosophy, no-one can really know what the share price will do over the next few months or even the next year.
However, if you invest for the long-term in a business which doesn't have a great long-term future then you could be setting yourself up for poor returns.
Here are four shares that I think would make good investments over the next decade:
Challenger Ltd (ASX: CGF)
Challenger is the annuity king of Australia with a huge market share and growing sales. In its just-released annual report it showed that annuity sales had grown by 20%.
The number of Australians hitting retirement age is predicted to heavily increase over the next two decades. There should be a 70% increase in the number of people over 65 over the next 20 years. Lots of these retirees will want to turn their capital into a safe income product.
Challenger is currently trading at 16x FY18's estimated earnings.
Ramsay Health Care Limited (ASX: RHC)
Ramsay is the largest private hospital operator in Australia. It has already had an impressive 15 years of growth but I think there are many more years to go.
The ageing demographics of Australia, the UK and France mean that there could be a large rise in the number of elderly patients needing to visit one of Ramsay's hospitals. Ramsay is expanding strongly and has a very sustainable dividend payout ratio of 50%.
Ramsay is currently trading at 25x FY18's estimated earnings.
Japara Healthcare Ltd (ASX: JHC)
Japara is one of the largest aged care providers in Australia. It sadly becomes harder for some people to live a normal life in their own home when they reach a certain age.
The rising life expectancy is a good thing but will require a lot more aged care facilities and beds to cater for the demand over the next decade or two. Japara has a number of greenfield and brownfield construction projects which should boost profit over the next five years.
Japara is currently trading at 17x FY16's earnings with a grossed-up dividend yield of 8.28%.
The growing and ageing population of Australia sadly means that there will likely be an increase of funerals too.
InvoCare is the market leader of funerals in Australia with around a third of the market. The death rate is expected to slowly rise over the next two decades which makes Invocare a great buy-and-hold investment in my opinion.
InvoCare is trading at 26x FY18's estimated earnings.
Foolish takeaway
I like all four shares, which is why I'm a shareholder of all four. InvoCare, Challenger and Ramsay are higher quality compared to Japara, so I'd be more drawn towards one of those at the current prices.
