I really like investing in ASX shares for the long-term because this timeline gives compounding the most time to work its magic. I think buy-and-hold is the best strategy.
When you invest in good businesses for a long time, their positives and competitive advantages can really show through. Over time, share prices are likely to follow earnings, so a significant level of profit growth in three, five or ten years could unlock market-beating returns.
Below are two ASX share options that could be top long-term investments for the next decade.
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Guzman Y Gomez Ltd (ASX: GYG)
GYG is a leading Mexican food restaurant business with a major presence in Australia. There are also some restaurants in Singapore and Japan. The business is delivering significant growth across both Australia and Asia, which bodes well for the future.
The business is achieving growth through both expansion of its restaurant network and solid comparable sales for its existing restaurants. New restaurants are not noticeably cannibalising its own sales.
In the third quarter of FY26, GYG reported that Australian network sales rose 19.7% year-over-year, while Asian network sales increased 15% to $21.5 million.
Those two operating segments reported comparable sales growth of 6.6%, which I think is impressive for a business that's already around two decades old.
Year-over-year, GYG saw its Australian network grow by 14.7% to 242 locations, the Singapore segment expanded by 15% to 23 restaurants, and the Japan segment grew by 25% to five locations.
But, this isn't just a rollout story. Its growing scale is helping increase margins. In April it said it expects its underlying operating profit (EBITDA) as a percentage of network sales to expand to between 6% to 6.2% in FY26, up from 5.7% in FY25. In May, it said it expects Australia segment underlying EBITDA to grow by 29% to $85 million.
Over the long-term the ASX share is targeting 1,000 restaurants – which could take many years – in Australia and it wants to deliver a segment underlying EBITDA margin as a percentage of network sales of 10%. That says to me both revenue and margins could rise substantially over the next decade from today.
iShares Global 100 ETF (ASX: IOO)
I think recent history and the ultra-long term have shown that the strongest global businesses have tended to grow stronger over time.
This exchange-traded fund (ETF) aims to invest in 100 of the largest listed businesses in the world, from various countries. It gives investors exposure to a broad range of large international companies in developed and emerging markets.
Australians can use the IOO ETF to diversify internationally and invest in long-term opportunities.
While around 80% of the portfolio is invested in US shares, the fund also gives exposure to share markets like the US, the UK, Switzerland, Germany, South Korea, France, the Netherlands and Japan.
Currently, the largest positions in the portfolio include Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Broadcom, JPMorgan, Eli Lilly, Samsung Electronics and ASML. These are much stronger companies than virtually all ASX shares.
This portfolio is full of the strongest businesses in the world, which have compelling outlooks and impressive balance sheets. As a group, I think they're likely to perform over the long-term.
Over the past 10 years, it has returned an average of 17% per year. Past performance is not a guarantee of future returns, of course. But I think the world's 100 biggest businesses will continue to do well over time.
