Buying high quality shares and holding them for long periods may not be an exciting get-rich-quick strategy, but it is a proven strategy that has the potential to generate significant wealth over the long term.
Some of the world's richest people, such as legendary investor Warren Buffett, have used this strategy to build their fortunes and there is nothing to stop the average investor from doing the same.
With that in mind, here are three shares that I think would be fantastic buy and hold options:
A2 Milk Company Ltd (ASX: A2M)
A2 Milk Company is a fast-growing infant formula and fresh milk company. It has been one of the best performers on the ASX over the last five years thanks to its explosive earnings growth. The catalyst for this growth has been the insatiable demand for its infant formula products in the massive China market. Pleasingly, although it is generating significant revenue in China, its market share is still only very small. I expect the company to make further market share gains over the next decade, driving above-average earnings growth.
Altium Limited (ASX: ALU)
Another top buy and hold option could be Altium. It is a printed circuit board-focused design software company which I believe is well-positioned to be a market-beater over the next decade. This is due to its award-winning Altium Designer platform being exposed to the rapidly growing Internet of Things market. According to a recent presentation, global technology spending on IoT is expected to reach US$1.2 trillion in 2022. So with the vast majority of IoT devices having printed circuit boards inside them, Altium appears well-placed to benefit.
Cochlear Limited (ASX: COH)
Another option for investors looking for buy and hold investments is Cochlear. As with the others, I believe the hearing solutions company is well-positioned to be a market beater over the next decade. This is thanks to the ageing populations tailwind which is driving increasing demand for its high quality product portfolio. By 2050 there are forecast to be 1.5 billion people over the aged of 65. This will be almost triple the number of over 65s in 2010.
