With the share market now out of its bear market, it could be a great time to start investing.
Even if you only have $500 to invest, I would suggest you consider putting it into shares.
Although it may not seem like a life-changing sum to invest, if you do it consistently you can generate material wealth.
If you were to invest $500 every three months ($2,000 a year) and earned a 9% per annum return, in 30 years your investments would be worth $300,000.
But which shares should start with? I think the 3 ASX 200 shares listed below would be great long-term options for investors:
Altium Limited (ASX: ALU)
I think this electronic design software platform provider could be a long term market-beater. This is due to its extremely positive outlook thanks to its industry-leading software and the tailwinds of the Internet of Things boom. Its exposure to this rapidly growing market looks set to drive strong demand for its software for many years to come. In fact, management is targeting 50,000 software subscriptions this year, but then expects to double it to 100,000 subscriptions by FY 2025. I believe it is well-positioned to achieve this target. Which, combined with its other growing businesses, should support strong earnings growth for years to come.
NEXTDC Ltd (ASX: NXT)
Another top option for investors to consider buying is this innovative data centre-as-a-service provider. As with Altium, the wind is firmly in NEXTDC's sails right now. This is because of the rise of cloud computing which is driving increasingly strong demand for data centre services. And given how its centres are among the highest quality in the world and strategically situated in key capital cities, I believe NEXTDC is well-positioned to capture this demand. I expect this to lead to strong earnings growth over the next decade as its scales.
Ramsay Health Care Limited (ASX: RHC)
A final option to consider investing $500 into is Ramsay Health Care. Although the leading private healthcare company is not having the easiest time right now, I'm optimistic that these headwinds will ease in the coming months. After which, I believe it is well placed for solid long term growth thanks to the ageing populations tailwind. Ramsay is better positioned than most thanks to its massive footprint. At the last count it had 480 facilities across 11 countries.