Out of the 200 S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) shares, which ones would you be happy to buy today and hold for the rest of your life?
It's a question that was posed to me over the weekend.
And it brings to mind the successes of legendary investor, Warren Buffett.
As Buffett famously quipped, "Our favourite holding period is forever."
Indeed, if you find the right long-term performing company, why would you ever want to sell it?
Now, obviously, not all ASX 200 shares fit this bill.
Some may surge higher for a year or two only to crash over the following years.
Other may just waddle along, offering shareholders subpar returns.
The trick is to find companies that are already performing well with a strong management team at the helm.
Then you want to gauge the very long-term sustainability of their business models.
With fast-advancing technologies and changing societal needs in mind, will there be any demand for their products and services in 20 or 30 years?
If so, is the demand for those products and services likely to stagnate or continue growing over the decades?
And finally, what kinds of barriers to entry, or moats, do these companies have to keep competitors at bay?
It's with these questions in mind that we turn to two top ASX 200 shares I'd certainly consider buying today and holding for a lifetime.
Two ASX 200 shares to hold till death do us part
The first ASX 200 share I'd consider owning for life is bank stock ANZ Group Holdings Ltd (ASX: ANZ).
With a long and well-established client base and a market cap of $89.7 billion, ANZ's chief competition is limited to a handful of other big banks. And I believe the demand for its financial services (however these may evolve) will only likely grow over time.
On the performance front, the ANZ share price is up more than 23% over the past 12 months. Now, I don't think it will deliver nearly that much every year for the rest of my life.
A better gauge may be the around 68% share price gain over 20 years.
Importantly, that figure doesn't include the reliable dividends this top ASX 200 share pays twice a year. ANZ currently trades on a partly franked trailing dividend yield of 5.9%.
ANZ trades on a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 13.2 times.
Which brings us to the second ASX 200 share I'd consider owning for life, global mining giant BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP).
As the biggest miner on the ASX and one of the world's top iron ore and copper producers, I'm very comfortable with BHP's moat.
I also believe global demand for both iron ore and copper will continue to grow over my life. Though as we're seeing with the recent pullback, this growth will ebb and flow over time.
And this ASX 200 share has a lot more quality assets on hand aside from copper and iron ore, including coal mines and world-class uranium deposits. While coal demand may diminish in my later years, I believe uranium demand is only likely to increase.
On the performance front, BHP shares are down 8% over the past year, pressured by falling copper and iron ore prices. But that's just the cyclical nature of investing in commodity stocks.
Taking a step back for the lifetime view, the BHP share price has gained around 225% over 20 years.
BHP shares also trade on a fully franked trailing dividend yield of 5.8%.
This top ASX 200 share trades on a P/E ratio of 18.2 times.
