I enjoy hunting for overlooked stocks that have the potential to become multi-baggers, but to take on a risk like that, I must have a core portfolio of stocks I can literally pass down to my grandkids. These stocks must be in companies that have become so intertwined in society’s DNA that we really couldn’t do without them. They never are going to go out of business, and they very likely will always be paying a dividend.

Those dividends, no matter how small they might appear, can compound your returns enormously when reinvested. Here are three such stocks:

General Electric

General Electric (NYSE:GE) is really more than just a company. It is a conglomerate that is so diversified that it might as well be another Berkshire Hathaway. The company sells products and services in lighting, oil and gas, water, business and consumer finance, aviation, electrical distribution, energy, health care and software.

Even in the worst of times, General Electric makes more than $10 billion a year ($14 billion expected this year). It generates more than $20 billion in free cash flow annually. And after all these years, GE has been hoarding cash like a miser jamming greenbacks into a mattress — to the tune of $136 billion. I believe GE is not only undervalued at its present stock price, but its dividend yield, now at 3.7%, will stick around for a long time.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners

I bet you’ve never heard of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE:BIP). This is what’s known as an infrastructure investment, because Brookfield deals in infrastructure needed for timber, parking lots and even transmission lines, primarily overseas. With CIBC World Markets projecting global infrastructure spending to reach $2 trillion annually through 2015, and total infrastructure spending to be $35 trillion, Brookfield has a long life ahead of it. The company has $136 million in net cash (only $18 million in debt) and pays a 5.5% dividend.

One note of caution: limited partnerships like this can create some funky tax obligations, so check to see how the company has been reporting figures on the annual K-1 statements it sends to investors. Read the company’s 10-K summary or call investor relations for more information.

United Parcel Service

Finally, we have a familiar name with United Parcel Service (NYSE:UPS). With the U.S. Postal Service constantly showing massive losses and shutting down stations in some parts of the country, UPS stands to gain more market share. At this point, besides UPS, there’s FedEx (NYSE:FDX) and no other serious contenders. If you can buy into an oligopoly like this, you are buying into long-term success.

The company’s five-year annualized expected growth rate is 11%, it holds $5.6 billion in cash against $10.7 billion in debt and it throws off a couple billion in free cash flow annually. It currently pays a 3% dividend, and I think there is room for that to grow. Sure, the company will be fighting tooth and nail with FedEx for market share, but neither of them is really going to blast ahead of the other in the long term. UPS is here to stay.

These are just a few companies that I believe are “forever holds.” I’ll write up more in the coming weeks.

Lawrence Meyers owns shares of GE.