There isn't one right way to invest, but I believe that you need to invest for the long-term to give yourself the best chance of generating good returns.
If you take the attitude that you're going to buy the share and hold it forever, or at least a decade, it makes it much easier to look through the market noise.
With that in mind, if I could only own 10 shares for the rest of my life, I'd go for these 10:
Facebook & Alphabet (Google)
I have grouped these two together because a lot of the points are very similar. They are both at the forefront of global technological development, they are taking increasing amounts of advertisement expenditure. However, it's not Facebook or Google Search that gets me excited. It's the future projects that could be big winners, like Google's automated car Waymo and Facebook's virtual reality segment. They have such big R&D budgets they may always stay ahead.
Amazon
Amazon has several categories to its business that could continue to drive it higher. There is a big opportunity for retail, Amazon Prime, home services and AWS to all be huge globally. I wouldn't be surprised to see Amazon expand into other segments down the road too.
Rural Funds Group (ASX: RFF)
Rural Funds is the only farmland real estate investment trust (REIT) on the ASX. It has a wide variety of farm types in its portfolio and this should mean it can weather any problems with its diversification strategy. Farmland has been useful for centuries and I imagine it will still be a good investment for the rest of my lifetime.
Costa Group Holdings Ltd (ASX: CGC)
This is a similar idea to Rural Funds. People will always need to eat food and Costa provides several of the healthy food categories like berries, citrus fruit, mushrooms, tomatoes and avocadoes. As far as I'm aware, there are no technological advances that will take away the need for Costa's produce in the future.
Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Co. Ltd (ASX: SOL)
Soul Patts is one of the oldest shares on the ASX. It is an investment conglomerate, meaning it can change its investment holdings when it needs to, which allows it to stay relevant. It has delivered good total shareholder returns over the long-term which have outperformed the index.
InvoCare Limited (ASX: IVC)
InvoCare is the largest funeral provider in Australia. The sad reality is that a number of people will die every year, giving InvoCare a source of almost-guaranteed earnings. The death rate should continue to rise over the ultra-long-term as long as Australia's population keeps growing.
Ramsay Health Care Limited (ASX: RHC)
Hospitals have been essential places for people for hundreds of years. I'd invest in public hospitals if I could, but Ramsay is the next best thing. There will always be operations to perform and new treatments to administer, so there should be long-term growth for Ramsay assuming the health insurance affordability issues gets better.
Magellan Global Trust (ASX: MGG)
Magellan is a listed investment trust. I like it because it gives investors exposure to some of the highest quality American shares. These businesses generate revenue all across the world, making them global shares, not just American shares. I like that Magellan can change its investments to what it thinks is the next best global opportunity.
Vanguard MSCI Index International Shares ETF (ASX: VGS)
This is an exchanged-traded fund (ETF) that offers investors exposure to around 1,500 shares listed across the world. It won't benefit strongly if there's a winner among them, but you won't lose much either.
Foolish takeaway
I own several of the above shares and plan to own them for many years into the future. I firmly believe that they will offer good growth potential, although each of them do have risks.
