I am always on the lookout for ASX shares that I can buy and hold for a decade.
Investments that are given a long time to work out probably have the best chance of succeeding.
I believe that these two ASX shares fit that long-term characteristic:
Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Co Ltd (ASX: SOL)
WHSP is an investment house that has been a listed business for over 100 years.
The difficulty for me to commit to a decade of holding most businesses is that it’s hard to know how that industry is going to evolve and how that business will perform within the industry.
Who knows how banking, telecommunications or healthcare is going to change?
But WHSP has a very useful structure because it can adapt its portfolio over time. It can invest wherever and whenever it wants to.
Currently, the biggest ASX share investment positions are in TPG Telecom Ltd (ASX: TPG), Brickworks Limited (ASX: BKW) and New Hope Corporation Limited (ASX: NHC).
But it has dozens of smaller positions in unlisted businesses (like Ampcontrol, agriculture and resources), small cap ASX shares and blue chip ASX shares.
With the recent Milton acquisition, the WHSP portfolio could change quite a bit in the shorter-term with much more financial firepower.
But it’s that ability to shift the portfolio to new opportunities that convinces me WHSP can be an ultra-long-term investment.
The growing dividend is also a very handy bonus.
Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES)
Wesfarmers is another ASX share that fits the conglomerate model.
It has an impressive array of retailers in its portfolio including Bunnings, Officeworks, Kmart and Catch.
But it’s the newer industries the ASX share has invested into, and old ones it has divested, that shows Wesfarmers can be in whatever industry it wants to be in.
For example, in recent years it has sold out of coal mines and divested a large part of Coles Group Ltd (ASX: COL).
Looking at the acquisitions, it is expanding into lithium mining with Mt Holland and seems on track to acquire Australian Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (ASX: API) which will form the start of a new health, beauty and wellness division.
I like all of the above moves for the long-term growth of the business.
Wesfarmers is an attractive business to me, it also has an attractive record of paying good dividends to shareholders.
Summary thoughts
Neither of these ASX shares are cheap at today’s prices. But I think they are quality enough to warrant owning a piece of today and accumulating more at better prices. That doesn’t necessarily mean cheaper than today’s price, just that the underlying value of the business rises quicker than the share price from here.
