There are few ASX shares that you can genuinely say are likely worth holding for more than two decades, let alone more than five decades.
However, there are a few shares that I believe are worth holding in my portfolio for the rest of my life:
Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Co. Ltd (ASX: SOL)
Soul Patts is probably my favourite long-term investment idea on the ASX. It has already been a great investment for more than a century, paying a dividend every year in its existence.
I believe it's such a good investment for a couple of key reasons, it doesn't have external management fee costs like a lot of listed investment companies (LICs) and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and it makes long-term investments into quality businesses it thinks will generate good returns such as its holdings of TPG Telecom Ltd (ASX: TPM) and Brickworks Limited (ASX: BKW).
Its investment conglomerate nature means it can alter its holdings as the years go by, meaning it shouldn't ever suffer from irrelevance that could happen to other old businesses.
Soul Patts has a grossed-up dividend yield of 2.7%.
Future Generation Investment Company Ltd (ASX: FGX)
Future Generation is a LIC that invests in a variety of ASX-focused Australian fund managers. There are no management fees, instead 1% of NTA is donated to charities each year – I'm very happy to be associated with this initiative and want to be invested with it for many years to come.
Aside from the pleasing diversification the underlying portfolio gives, I like Future Generation as an investment because if the LIC outperforms the market, which it has done so since inception, there are no performance fees.
It currently has a grossed-up dividend yield of 5.5%.
Rural Funds Group (ASX: RFF)
Rural Funds is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that invests purely in agriculture. Farmland has been a very useful asset for hundreds of years and I imagine will continue to be so for many years to come.
I like that Rural Funds is spread across different farm types, different states and different climactic conditions – this should reduce risk.
If Rural Funds can continue to grow the distribution by 4% (or more) each year over the long-term then it should be a good buy-and-hold share.
It currently has a distribution yield of 4.9%.
Foolish takeaway
I'm very happy to be a long-term shareholder of all three of these shares and I plan to hold them for many decades to come. At the current prices Future Generation looks like the best value when looking at its underlying asset value and dividend yield.
