I'm a big advocate of buy and hold investing and believe it is the best way for investors to grow their wealth.
In light of this, to demonstrate how successful it can be, I occasionally like to pick out a number of popular ASX 200 shares to see how much a single $20,000 investment 10 years ago would be worth now.
This time around I have picked out the two ASX 200 shares that are listed below:
Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG)
The resources sector can be a difficult place to invest over long periods because of the ups and downs of mining cycles. But thanks largely to this iron ore miner's strong operating performance and favourable commodity prices over the last three years, the Fortescue share price has charged higher and higher.
Combined with some big dividend payments, this has led to the company's shares generating very strong returns for investors. In fact, over the last 10 years, Fortescue's shares have provided investors with an average total return of 20.26% per annum. This would have turned a $20,000 investment in 2013 into over $125,000 now.
ResMed Inc. (ASX: RMD)
Another ASX 200 share that provided investors with market-beating returns over the last decade is ResMed. It is a sleep treatment focused medical device company which provides industry-leading solutions for sleep apnoea and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease sufferers.
Thanks to the growing awareness of these disorders, demand has been increasing strongly for ResMed's products over the last decade. This has led to consistently solid sales and earnings growth, which has driven its shares higher. So much so, ResMed's shares have generated an average total return of 22.94% since 2013. This would have turned a $20,000 investment in its shares into almost $160,000 today.
