The earlier you can start investing the better off you'll be. If you're in your 20s then investing is a great idea because it gives you more time to compound your wealth.
Although high income investments like real estate investment trusts (REITs) are likely to outperform cash over the long-term, I think it's better to go for growth.
With the above in mind, here are three ASX shares I think would suit a (fairly) young investor's portfolio:
MFF Capital Investments Ltd (ASX: MFF)
I think MFF Capital may be the best listed investment company (LIC) on the ASX, its role is to invest in other shares for the benefit of its shareholders. It has a global investment mandate, so it can choose any share across the world to invest in.
It has been the top-performing LIC over the past five years due to the strength of its underlying holdings, such as Visa and MasterCard. Global businesses should continue to be good options over the long-term.
Another box that it ticks is the fact that the investment manager is very aligned with shareholders because Chris Mackay and his family own around $188 million of MFF Capital shares. With a low and fixed management fee, I think this is a great option for anyone to own.
Costa Group Holdings Ltd (ASX: CGC)
The best time to buy shares of individual businesses is when they are going through temporary problems.
Costa is Australia's largest horticultural business, it grows berries, mushrooms, tomatoes, avocados and citrus fruit.
The citrus fruit segment in-particular has recently had a tough time and generally food prices were lower than expected. However, food prices (particularly tomatoes) have rebounded in recent months and now Costa expects to report at least 30% underlying profit growth in 2019. The fall in the share price will hopefully be temporary.
If Costa can executive its Asian growth strategy well then it may become a much larger player over time.
Vanguard FTSE Asia Ex Japan Shares Index ETF (ASX: VAE)
I think everyone should consider exchange-traded funds (ETFs) for their portfolio, but not every ETF is investment worthy.
In my opinion, Asia could be a very fruitful place to be invested over the next five decades or more, so a broad way to get exposure to that would be this Vanguard Asian ETF that owns shares of almost 900 Asian businesses in a wide range of industries.
The ETF looks cheap on simple metrics like the price/earnings ratio and the PEG ratio, so I'm happy to look to continue to accumulate a bigger holding for my own portfolio over time.
