What do you do when you find a stock that absolutely dominates its industry… pays steadily rising dividends year after year… and trades at a 43% discount to the S&P 500?

You buy it and hold it forever.

I’m not the only one who thinks so either. Many of America’s wealthiest and most well-connected investors will back me up on that.

They would know… they’ve been stuffing billions of dollars into stocks like this for more than a decade now.

Let me give you an example.

According to Berkshire Hathaway’s most recent annual report, Warren Buffett’s company now owns more than 483 million shares of banking giant Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC). The total stake is worth upwards of $10 billion.

That’s a long way from his initial $290 million investment in the company back in 1990.

And he’s not the only well-connected investor who loves Wells Fargo either. In fact, you may not be aware of it, but average American investors are actually able to see what stocks are owned by their Congressional representatives.

Why is this important? Well, a recent study found that members of the House of Representatives beat the average stock market investor by 6.8% per year. And according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics, some 249 of the 535 members of Congress are millionaires, compared to just 5% of “regular” U.S. households that can say the same thing.

And at last count, 58 members of Congress — 21 Democrats and 37 Republicans — owned shares of Wells Fargo.

That includes Mitch McConnell (R-KY), one of the richest men in Congress, with a net worth in excess of $30 billion. His stake of the company is valued at up to $1 million.

And that’s nothing compared to former Senator Jay Rockefeller’s (D-WVa) stake. As of 2013, his net worth was more than $100 million. He owns shares worth up to $50 million.

Clearly, America’s wealthiest elected officials are on to something. And if I were to guess, they’re doing the exact same thing Buffett is doing: buying shares of companies like Wells Fargo when they’re on sale and then keeping them forever.

That’s because buying the types of stocks that you can hold onto for the rest of your life is one of the easiest ways to consistently beat the market.

See, the dirty little secret of investing is that your chances for success actually increase when you make fewer trades and hold investments longer.

A recent study by mega-investment firm Oppenheimer backs this up. It showed that the S&P 500 has NEVER suffered a loss in a 20-year period (measured in rolling monthly periods), dating all the way back to 1950.

It’s no wonder Buffett has always said his favorite holding period is “forever.” I’m sure that’s exactly how long he plans to hold Wells Fargo.

Think about it: when you buy a “Forever Stock”, you no longer have to worry about things like inflation, deflation, flash crashes or fiscal cliffs.

During the 2007-2009 market crash, Wells Fargo shareholders lost just over 20%. Now, that’s not pretty, but remember the S&P lost nearly 40% of its value during this time.

Since then, Wells Fargo shares have rebounded 146% — 26 percentage points higher than the broader market.

The company’s annual dividend payouts have grown each year since then as well. Today Wells Fargo pays out $1.43 per share — a 600% increase over the past five years.

When you have a company this resilient that’s willing to greatly reward its shareholders, there’s no question it’s an investment worth holding for the rest of your life.

But, let me be clear — you can’t just buy any stock, hold it for the long-term and expect to come out ahead. The market is littered with Enrons, Worldcoms and Lehman Brothers. Holding them forever didn’t matter a lick.

That’s why I decided to research and publish my own list of 10 Forever Stocks you could consider buying now and never selling.

And while companies like GE, Proctor & Gamble and Wells Fargo top Congress’ list of favorite holdings, I decided to take a slightly different approach.

Some of the companies on my list of Forever Stocks aren’t ones you hear about every day. One, for example, owns dozens of legal monopolies spread all across the country.

Another owns a string of highly-profitable airports in a country that boasts one of the world’s fastest growing economies. And yet another is the owner of famous brands.

Put simply, the 10 companies I found are some of the most profitable investments you’ll find anywhere, as their current shareholders can attest.

For example, one of my Forever Stocks has turned every $500 invested back in 1972 into more than $1 million today.

And another is nearly twice as profitable as some of the most well-known companies on the planet, including Apple and Google.

If history is any guide, these stocks will continue to deliver steady, market-beating gains for years to come.

It’s no wonder Warren Buffett… Carlos Slim… John Kerry… and dozens of other millionaire investors have been loading up on shares of companies like these for decades now.

I recently put together a brief presentation detailing how Congress has used these kinds of forever investments to earn huge income streams for decades now. To view the presentation, simply visit this link.