If you read StreetAuthority Daily on a regular basis, you know that we’ve been talking a lot about what we call “Legacy Assets” lately.

We’ve shown you what they are, what they can do for your portfolio — and even shared a couple of our favorite Legacy Assets with you.

Today, I want to tell you why they matter.

#-ad_banner-#Warren Buffett, widely considered the greatest investor of all time and one of the world’s richest men, has said of his legacy:

When you get to my age, you’ll really measure your success in life by how many of the people you want to have love you actually do love you.

I know people who have a lot of money, and they get testimonial dinners and they get hospital wings named after them.

But the truth is that nobody in the world loves them. If you get to my age in life and nobody thinks well of you, I don’t care how big your bank account is, your life is a disaster.

Buffett means what he says. And he backs up his words with action.

In 2012, Buffett donated over $3 billion to charity, more than 3 times as much as anyone else in the world that year.

He has promised that when he dies, 83% of his wealth will be given to the Gates Foundation — a non-profit that donates billions each year to charitable causes.

Still, Buffett’s 3 children won’t be hurting. Even if he gives away 99% of his wealth, as he’s said he will, the 1% left over will still come to $585 million.

You see, as Chief Investment Strategist of StreetAuthority’s Top 10 Stocks advisory, I know that many of my readers aren’t just investing for themselves — they’re investing for their family — their children, grandchildren…

And with those goals in mind, the focus of Legacy Assets becomes even more important: rising dividends, market-beating growth and — most important of all — safety, are key.

That’s how you build a legacy.

In my own life, I’ve had the good fortune to benefit from a Legacy Asset.

When my grandfather passed away several years back, my parents found a surprise in an old safe at the back corner of his home.

Share certificates of IBM.

You see, my grandfather wasn’t the investing type. As a European immigrant to Canada who came with next to nothing, the only thing he really trusted was his own industriousness.

But he did understand machines. Having trained as a machinist, he could relate to the “nuts and bolts” side of IBM’s business. It was something real he could see and touch, and he knew that real industry created real value. So he invested his precious capital.

And he never sold. Instead, he kept those certificates as insurance in case times got tough. His shares in IBM became something of lasting value.

And whether he knew it or not, he created a legacy of wealth for both my parents and my two daughters.

That’s the kind of story I want every reader of Top 10 Stocks to have.

So when we set out to find the best Legacy Assets on the market for our special report, my research team and I knew that these investments should share several important traits.

Barring some sort of apocalypse, these companies aren’t going anywhere. Most have been around long before any of us were born.

They’ve survived and prospered during World Wars, the Great Depression, and the collapse of empires around the world.

But here’s the important thing…

It’s not just the companies themselves that have stood the test of time.

The products they make have remained virtually unchanged. In some cases, the same products have been generating wealth for over 200 years.

Popular tech companies like Apple and Microsoft have to come up with the next high-tech gadget or operating system every year.

“Legacy Assets” don’t.

Unlike banks or insurance companies, Legacy Assets don’t deal in “reverse-collateral mortgage swaps” and other hard-to-understand financial products.

Legacy Assets simply produce valuable, easy-to-understand products that you probably use every day.

A common mistake investors make is investing in products or businesses they don’t fully understand.

As legendary investor Peter Lynch put it:

Getting the story on a company is a lot easier if you understand the basic business. That’s why I’d rather invest in panty hose than in communications satellites or in motel chains than in fiber optics. The simpler it is, the better I like it.

These Legacy Assets make products that are so simple, yet so integral to the American way of life that even your granddaughter can likely ask you about them by name.

And that’s the real secret…

When looking for Legacy Assets, the first question you want to ask is:

“Can I easily imagine my grandchildren and great-grandchildren enjoying the same products this company makes 50 or even 100 years from now?”

If you can answer “Yes” to this question, chances are you’re looking at a Legacy Asset. My advice: choose a handful of Legacy Assets, buy them, and make them the cornerstone of your portfolio. Plan on holding shares for the long-term. Chances are they’ll still be around after both you and I are long gone… and they’ll still be creating wealth for whoever owns them after that.

If you’re curious about what my research team and I think are the absolute best Legacy Asset stocks to own for the long haul, I invite you to check out our free special report. As I said, you don’t have to own every single one of them (you might even think of an additional one or two you’d like to add to the list). All it takes is a handful to create wealth that lasts for generations.