I'm a big fan of buy and hold investing and believe it is one of the best ways to grow your wealth.
To demonstrate just how successful this investment strategy can be with ASX 200 shares, I like to see how much a single $20,000 investment in certain ASX 200 shares 10 years ago would be worth today.
Let's see how investments in these shares have fared during this time:
Breville Group Ltd (ASX: BRG)
The first ASX 200 share that we're going to look at is Breville. It is one of the world's leading appliance manufacturers.
Thanks to its investment in research and development, global expansion, and acquisitions, Breville has delivered strong sales and earnings growth over the last decade. This has unsurprisingly led to market-beating returns for its shares over the same period.
Over the last 10 years, Breville's shares have achieved an average total return of 12.95% per annum. This would have turned a $20,000 investment into almost $68,000 today.
Goodman Group (ASX: GMG)
Goodman is another ASX 200 share that has made its shareholders smile.
Thanks to its strategy of investing in and developing high quality industrial properties in strategic locations close to large urban populations and in and around major gateway cities globally, Goodman has delivered consistently strong earnings growth.
This has led to Goodman's shares generating a total average return of 22% per annum since 2014. This would have turned a $20,000 investment into ~$146,000.
NextDC Ltd (ASX: NXT)
Finally, a third market-beater has been data centre operator NextDC.
Due to strong demand for capacity in its world-class centres thanks to the structural shift to the cloud, its revenue and operating earnings have been growing at a rapid rate.
This has helped underpin some very strong returns since 2014. For example, over the last decade, its shares have generated an average return of 24% per annum. This means that a $20,000 investment in NextDC shares would have grown to be worth ~$170,000 today.
