I'm a big fan of buy and hold investing and believe it is the best way for investors to grow their wealth.
To demonstrate how successful it can be, 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 two ASX shares that are listed below:
Altium Limited (ASX: ALU)
After struggling in its early years, it has been onwards and upwards for this electronic design software company over the last 10 years. This has been driven by increasing demand for platforms that help design the printed circuit boards (PCBs) found inside almost all electronic devices. And with the Internet of Things and AI markets underpinning an explosion in electronic devices globally, demand is only expected to increase over the next decade. This bodes very well for Altium, given how its platforms are widely regarded as head and shoulders above the competition.
Altium's strong growth over the last decade has led to its shares thoroughly outperforming the market average. During this time, the Altium share price has generated an average total return of 83.2% per annum. This would have turned a $20,000 investment into a staggering $8.5 million.
Pro Medicus Limited (ASX: PME)
Pro Medicus is a leading provider of radiology information systems (RIS), Picture Archiving and Communication Systems (PACS), and advanced visualisation solutions across the globe. Over the last 30 years, the company has been helping its clients deliver first-rate patient care by enhancing and streamlining medical practice management. Pleasingly, demand for Pro Medicus' technology continues to increase as healthcare institutions shift away from legacy systems. This has led to many of the largest health institutions in the world signing long-term contracts in recent years.
And it isn't hard to see why. Pro Medicus' products and services combine speed, scalability, stability and smarts to help eliminate administrative tasks and workarounds, optimise the efficiency of clinical and administrative staff, and maximise profits.
This has resulted in strong sales and profit growth, underpinning stellar returns for its lucky shareholders. Over the last 10 years, the Pro Medicus share price has generated an average total return of 76.1% per annum. This means $20,000 invested into its shares in 2011 would be worth a massive $5.7 million today.
