I'm a big fan of buy and hold investing and firmly believe it is the best way for investors to grow their wealth.
To demonstrate how successful it can be, every so often I like to pick out a number of popular ASX shares to see how much a single $20,000 investment 10 years ago would be worth today.
This time around I have picked out the three ASX shares that are listed below:
Atlas Arteria Group (ASX: ALX)
The Atlas Arteria share price has been a surprisingly strong performer over the last decade. The toll road operator, which was previously known as Macquarie Atlas Roads, has thoroughly beaten the market thanks to the success of its roads and acquisitions. Since this time in 2010, the company's shares have generated a total average return of 21.99% per annum. This would have turned a $20,000 investment into a massive $146,000.
Jumbo Interactive Ltd (ASX: JIN)
Over the last 10 years Jumbo has become a real force in the lottery industry thanks to the shift to online ticket buying. Back in FY 2011 Jumbo was targeting lottery ticket sales of $75 million to $80 million, whereas today the company is aiming to grow its ticket sales to $1 billion by FY 2022. Unsurprisingly, this meteoric growth has resulted in very strong returns for investors. Despite being down 60% from their 52-week high, since 2010 Jumbo's shares have provided an average total return of 45.2% per annum. This means $20,000 invested into its shares 10 years ago would be worth almost $850,000 today.
Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG)
The Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG) share price has been a consistently strong performer over the last decade. During this time the investment bank has outperformed both the market and the big four banks with an average total return of 14.65% per annum. This would have turned a $20,000 investment in Macquarie's shares in 2010 into ~$78,500 today. As a comparison, the big four banks have generated an average total return in the range of 4% to 8% per annum over the same period.