10 Stocks That Every 30-Year-Old Should Buy and Hold Forever

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best long-term stocks - 10 Stocks That Every 30-Year-Old Should Buy and Hold Forever

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Editor’s note: “10 Stocks That Every 30-Year-Old Should Buy and Hold Forever” was previously published in April 2020. It has since been updated to include the most relevant information available.

By the age of 30, you should already have nearly a decade’s worth of retirement savings under your belt. If you don’t, you’re not alone. A recent GoBankingRates survey showed that more than half of the millennials questioned had no retirement savings at all. And they’re not alone — the issue is endemic among people under 30.

If you fall into that camp, keep in mind the old saying “better late than never,” because it absolutely applies if you’re only just starting to build a nest egg.

If you just hit the big “3-0” and you’ve already been saving and investing for years, bravo; however, 30 is a great milestone to look over your investments and rebalance your portfolio with some of the best long-term stocks out there.

Unlike in your 20s, risk is a much larger consideration a decade later. The market is bound to go up and down, and you have to assess whether or not you could handle a market-wide pullback. Moreover, you will want to keep some powder dry to buy on a dip. Income stocks that pay dividends become important stocks to buy at this stage, but choosing some riskier players shouldn’t be completely off the table.

Of course, investors in their 30s should be holding some of their money in an index fund that will provide conservative growth. But here’s a look at ten of the best long-term stocks to buy if you’re in your 30s:

Disney (DIS)

10 Stocks That Every 30-Year-Old Should Buy and Hold Forever
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Disney (NYSE:DIS) stock is as resilient an entertainment stock as we’ve seen in a while, seemingly impervious to long-term headwinds.

Since the novel coronavirus took a chunk out of its cruise and park lines Disney has lost most of the momentum that brought it about $140 early this year.

But as people stuck at home embrace Disney+ and the continued success of the Star Wars and Marvel franchises Disney will find a way back above that mark before too long.

There are a few reasons Disney is one of the best long-term stocks to buy if you’re building a portfolio in your 30s. The first is that the company is ripe for a major comeback.

Disney is a solid company with a great deal of cash behind it. That means that even in the worst-case scenario, the firm has the money to spend on building out a streaming service from scratch and weather any storms that loom over the media space in the future. The firm also pays a respectable 1.62% dividend yield that will help balance out concerns about growth due to the firm’s size.

Netflix (NFLX)

10 Stocks That Every 30-Year-Old Should Buy and Hold Forever
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Another player in the streaming space worth considering one of the best long-term stocks to buy is Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX).

If you missed the boat on NFLX back in 2015 when the shares were trading below $50, it might be a hard pill to swallow, but NFLX is still an excellent long-term bet despite the fact that its share price is over $490 today.

The reason is that Netflix still has a long growth runway before investors should start to worry about the company becoming too large to produce the kind of growth they’ve become accustomed to.

A company like, say, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has a market cap of nearly $1 trillion, making it unlikely that the firm can continue to grow at the same clip over the next decade. Netflix’s market cap of $113 billion leaves plenty of space for the firm to catch up to its fellow FAANG peers over the next decade.

NFLX has the growth potential to do so as well. The company has proven that it has a good grasp on the population’s ever-changing tastes, and although it has been expensive, Netflix’s original content has been a huge draw for subscribers. While the U.S. market has been saturated, NFLX has only just begun its international expansion, leaving a long growth runway for the next few years.

Over the past two years, Netflix has been preparing for a major push overseas, and those efforts are due to pay off over the next decade. GHB Insights’ head of technology research Daniel Ives said he sees Netflix international expansion opening a potential market of 700 million subscribers in the next two years.

So, although the streaming space is certainly getting more crowded, NFLX appears to have created a winning formula that makes it one of the best long-term stocks to buy and hold on to. 

Procter & Gamble (PG)

10 Stocks That Every 30-Year-Old Should Buy and Hold Forever
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Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) is a stock to buy that, although boring, is a buy-and-hold-until-you-retire kind of stock.

As I mentioned above, risk assessment is a huge part of building your portfolio in your 30s, and although you still have plenty of time to let risky bets play out, you should be thinking about adding some low-risk, solid stocks to your portfolio that will keep ticking along as the years go by.

What makes PG stock one of the best long-term stocks to buy is that the company’s management has a long history of maintaining a healthy cashflow and delivering shareholder returns and its 2.25% dividend yield will provide a reliable income.

Not only that, but PG’s widely diversified business offers investors some security in times of economic trouble. Plus, PG sells a wide variety of necessities like toothpaste and soap, which are unlikely to take much of a hit even in the case of a recession.

Increased competition is definitely something to keep in mind when considering PG, but the firm’s strong financial position means it has the leeway to refocus its strategy and continue thriving in difficult conditions. 

Exxon Mobil (XOM)

10 Stocks That Every 30-Year-Old Should Buy and Hold Forever
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If you haven’t started wading back into oil and gas stocks yet, now’s your chance as prices tumble. And Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) is one of the best long-term stocks to buy for a few reasons.

The crash in crude oil prices helped weed out weaker firms and those that survive will come back stronger than ever with more efficient operations and better future prospects.

However, worries about oversupply are still at the forefront of investor’s minds, which has kept the sector from becoming too expensive.

First, XOM’s share price is still well below its 2015 highs, giving it plenty of room for a turnaround in the coming years. XOM stock is also working on an aggressive new strategy that includes a $2 billion pipeline in the Permian Basin. The firm also sees potential opportunities in Guyana and Brazil which are expected to help XOM ramp up production significantly over the next few years.

Of course, oil prices will play a major role in whether XOM’s plans are successful, but what’s nice about owning Exxon shares is the fact that the company’s integrated structure means it’s not a direct oil play.

So, although that means XOM won’t see the same kinds of gains some of its peers do if oil prices spike, that also means it won’t suffer the same losses should the opposite occur.

XOM also pays out a 8.5% dividend, taking the edge off some of the risk.

Walmart (WMT)

10 Stocks That Every 30-Year-Old Should Buy and Hold Forever
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Discount superstore Walmart (NYSE:WMT) is often overlooked by investors because Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) tends to be their first choice.

While I don’t disagree that Amazon is still one of the best long-term stocks to buy, worries about WMT’s future are largely overdone.

Since being badly hurt by the eCommerce takeover a few years ago, WMT stock has made an impressive recovery and, although the firm is still facing some headwinds, it’s a solid stock to buy.

Judging by the company’s improving eCommerce sales, it looks like Walmart is on the right track when it comes to competing against the likes of Amazon. 

Amazon (AMZN)

10 Stocks That Every 30-Year-Old Should Buy and Hold Forever
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You’d have to be living under a rock to not have heard all the buzz surrounding Amazon over the past few years. If you haven’t jumped on the AMZN stock bandwagon yet, though, there might still be time.

Of course, you’d be much better off if you’d bought Amazon stock in 2012 when it was trading at just $200 per share, but the company still is one of the best long-term stocks to buy today.

It might seem counterintuitive to consider AMZN when you look at the firm’s massive $895 billion market cap and the fact that the company pays absolutely no dividends. Not to mention, AMZN stock has proven to be extremely volatile.

However in your 30s, you’ve still got time, and that means there’s space in your portfolio for a little bit of wiggle room if you’re comfortable with it.

Aside from its dominance in eCommerce, Amazon is also a top dog in cloud computing, an industry destined to grow exponentially over the next few years. On top of that, AMZN is spreading its wings in a wide variety of industries including grocery and logistics and there are even rumors that the firm is working to make its way into the healthcare space as well.

It’s hard to imagine AMZN’s market cap getting much larger, but 30-somethings would be remiss not to consider Amazon stock to juice up their gains over the next five or ten years. 

Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B)

10 Stocks That Every 30-Year-Old Should Buy and Hold Forever
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It would be impossible to talk about the best long-term stocks without including Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.B), run by legendary investor Warren Buffett.

Of course, if you’re 30 and just picking up Berkshire Hathaway stock now, then you’re about to miss the boat in terms of benefiting from Buffett’s infamous investing sense. 

However, that doesn’t make BRK.B a bad long-term pick. The company has new fund managers at the helm who’ve already started taking over some of the firm’s investment decisions, and you can’t argue with the value the firm already possesses. Berkshire has many defensive stocks that will help the firm ride out troubled markets, but the firm will also keep up with upward market trends. 

If nothing else, Berkshire stock is a great stabilizer that will round out your portfolio and mitigate against major market events making it one of the best long-term stocks 30-something crowd.

Unilever (UN)

10 Stocks That Every 30-Year-Old Should Buy and Hold Forever
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Another consumer product stock to add to your list of the best long-term stocks is Unilever (NYSE:UN).

The company has become massively efficient after undergoing major cost-cutting initiatives over the past few years in order to better compete as the industry became more and more competitive.

That bodes well for the future because it means the company will be well prepared in the event of a recession, not to mention that the company sells a wide variety of basic necessities, which tend to continue selling even when purse strings are tight.

In fact, as early as July of this year, Unilever surpassed its pre-March highs and is well on it’s way to returning to its 2019 price.

Another reason UN makes for a good stock to buy is the firm’s presence in emerging markets. In 2017, more than half of the company’s reported sales came from emerging markets.

The company’s huge footprint within emerging markets sets it apart from its peers because it creates a great long-term growth runway that others don’t have access to.

Microsoft (MSFT)

10 Stocks That Every 30-Year-Old Should Buy and Hold Forever
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Another steady stock to buy in your 30s is Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT). Like a few others on this list, MSFT stock isn’t exactly the most exciting stock, but it will do its job and make you some money.

Unlike others in the IT industry, MSTF is mature which, in this case, translates to stability rather than falling out of touch with what consumers want. 

Right now MSFT is working to pivot away from its traditional software business and focusing on growth in its cloud business, which includes subscriptions like Office 365 as well as Azure, Microsoft’s answer to Amazon Web Services. Growth in that arm of MSFT’s business has been strong. 

With a dividend yield of just 0.93%, there’s no doubt that MSFT is an expensive stock, but you’re paying a premium for a well run, solid business that has and will continue to withstand the test of time. 

Waste Management (WM)

10 Stocks That Every 30-Year-Old Should Buy and Hold Forever
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It’s all well and good to invest in the next hot tech trend or retail story, but if you really want to make a play on future trends then look no further than Waste Management (NYSE:WM), the company that handles everyone’s garbage.

One thing is for certain, over the next few decades people are going to generate waste, and WM will be there to dispose of it. That makes it one of the best long-term stocks to buy.

Not only does WM have a wide moat because of the regulatory permits it holds and its huge network of landfills, but the firm has also diversified its business to offer more than just waste collection and landfill maintenance. Waste Management also handles recycling and has been developing a way to turn landfill gas into energy. That means that as greener living continues to gain traction, WM will benefit as well.

However, perhaps the most alluring reason to add WM stock to your portfolio is the firm’s nearly 2% dividend yield. The company has been raising its dividend annually for the past 15 years and there’s no reason to expect that to stop anytime soon.

As of this writing, Laura Hoy was long AMZN, AAPL, UN and NFLX. 

Marie Brodbeck has a Finance degree from Duquesne University and has been a financial journalist for more than a decade. Her work can be seen in a variety of publications including InvestorPlace, Benzinga, Yahoo Finance and CCN.


Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2020/08/10-stocks-that-every-30-year-old-should-buy/.

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