ASX shares are a great way to invest for long-term wealth creation. It's so easy being a shareholder – you hardly have to do anything at all each year! I wish all of my investments could be as good as my best ones, but that's how it can work in investing – some go great, others are mediocre.
I'm going to talk about five of my favourite investments (transactions). While they have all done well, I also like the context of when and why I invested.
Altium Limited (ASX: ALU)
My strongest performing ASX share investment to date has been Altium, the maker of electronic PCB design software. It's benefiting strongly from the increasingly technological world we live in – which was a key reason why I invested – and Altium has invested heavily over the years in creating the most compelling offering for engineers, including its cloud offering called Altium 365.
The initial investment has gone up more than 10 times in value for me, with growing dividends along the way.
For me, this is a great example of finding a good business that's worth backing and owning it for the long term. I'll point out there has been plenty of volatility over the last few years.
Fortescue Ltd (ASX: FMG)
Fortescue is one of the biggest iron ore miners in Australia and the world. I was attracted to owning shares in the business because of its green energy ambitions, to produce green hydrogen (and ammonia). It has also expanded into high-performance batteries.
I like my investment in this business because I used weakness in the iron ore price to pounce on the ASX iron ore share. The biggest investment I made in Fortescue was in October 2021 at $14.11 when there were issues with Chinese construction business Evergrande and others. The Fortescue share price has doubled since then and paid many large dividends.
I'm not expecting the Fortescue share price to stay this high forever, and I don't think it's an opportunistic time to invest today because the iron ore price has soared to US$140 per tonne.
WAM Microcap Limited (ASX: WMI)
This is a listed investment company (LIC) that focuses on small-cap ASX shares. I like the potential of small caps, with their growth potential.
Why am I counting this as one of my best? I made an investment in this LIC on 23 March 2020, the worst day of the COVID-19 crash and got it for 87 cents per share. Looking back, I'm proud of myself that I was brave at that extremely uncertain time.
For the FY23 dividend, my grossed-up yield on cost was 17%, so that investment is 'paying dividends' for me very nicely.
Temple & Webster Group Ltd (ASX: TPW)
This is an investment I've only just made in the last couple of months. My average cost was $5.43, so it has gained a lot in a short amount of time (which was lucky).
I think this investment has shown the merit of investing in a growing business at a good price, particularly when the short-term outlook is worrying. I like the long-term potential of the adoption of e-commerce and the company's plans.
Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Co Ltd (ASX: SOL)
Soul Pattinson is an investment house that owns a variety of assets and ASX shares. It's steadily investing in more opportunities. I invested at a share price of $16.50 in February 2017 and $17.20 in early April 2020, so it has roughly doubled since then.
I think this investment shows the power of compounding over time. Soul Pattinson isn't a fast-growth ASX tech share, it's just steadily building year after year, which is helping grow its underlying value.
