I'm a big advocate of buy and hold investing and firmly believe it is the best way for investors to grow their wealth.
To demonstrate how successful it can be, every so often I like to pick out a number of popular ASX shares to see how much a single $20,000 investment 10 years ago would be worth today.
With that in mind, here's how $20,000 investments in these ASX shares in 2010 would have fared:
CSL Limited (ASX: CSL)
This biotherapeutics company's shares have been consistently strong performers over the last decade. This strong form has been driven by the increasing demand for its immunoglobulins, the acquisitions of the Novartis influenza vaccines business, and its high level of investment in research and development activities. These have combined to underpin strong sales and earnings growth over period, leading to CSL shares generating an average total return of 24.9% per annum. This would have turned a $20,000 investment into almost $185,000.
Evolution Mining Ltd (ASX: EVN)
Historically, gold miners are not great long term investments. But that hasn't been the case over the last decade due to falling rates and a rising gold price. Combined with strong production and acquisitions, this has led to Evolution Mining shares beating the market since 2010. Over that time its shares have generated a 13.5% per annum total return. This means that a $20,000 investment would now be worth $71,000.
REA Group Limited (ASX: REA)
Thanks to the shift to online listings and the emergence of its realestate.com.au website as the dominant player in the Australian housing market, REA Group has been able to grow its earnings at a strong rate over the last 10 years. This has led to the property listings company's shares smashing the market over the period with an impressive 26.15% per annum total return. Based on this, a $20,000 investment in REA Group's shares in 2010 would be worth $204,000 today.
