As much as we would like to tell ourselves sometimes that it isn’t, investing is very much about being a “long person’s game” where patience, discipline, and foresightedness pay off. And as we’ve seen more recently, markets can sometimes act in unforeseeable and unexpected ways, making the aim of trying to “time the markets” a mug’s game at best.

But the good news is that once you’ve locked this distinction in, it’s actually something that will end up working in your favour as an investor.

Rather than chasing the latest flavour of the week, you learn that we’re all much better off buying shares in companies as owners of high-quality businesses. There’s a lot more to investing than just buying companies you believe will be bigger.

With that said, let’s take a closer look at three companies that will almost unquestionably be a lot bigger in 20 years from now.

A company like BCE (TSX:BCE)(NYSE:BCE) might ring as being out of sync in a list like this one, because we don’t typically think of mature, established companies like Bell Canada as being growth companies.

If anything, we’d probably consider BCE as a stock that would more aptly fall within the value category, but that type of oversimplification can sometimes be problematic; this is a company that is still very much growing as a business, and with the rollout of 5G wireless networks just around the corner, there’s at least a very good chance that the current pace of growth at Bell is about to pick up.

Meanwhile, BCE shares are already yielding a 5.21% dividend annually, meaning shareholders with a positive long-term vision for this company are getting the best of both worlds.

On the contrary, cannabis stocks would probably be one of the first things to come to someone’s mind if you were to ask them about what types of investments held the best prospects for growth.

Canopy Growth (TSX:WEED)(NYSE:CGC) is Canada’s pre-eminent — and largest — cannabis stock at the moment, and personally I think there’s a lot to like about where management appears to be taking the company, including its latest deal with U.S. headquartered, Acreage Holdings.

Canopy’s push into the U.S. market makes a lot of sense right now.

If the federal government were to make a move to liberalize its official policy towards cannabis, it could end up being a real game changer for the entire cannabis industry.

I like Canopy’s odds as an already entrenched market leader if that were to end up happening.

We know one of the major demographic changes taking place right now is the growing mainstream acceptance of cannabis, but another major change that’s nearly impossible to ignore is the aging of the baby boomer population.

With the population aging, seniors’ residences should continue to be in demand. Sienna Senior Living (TSX:SIA) stock is currently yielding a 4.81% dividend annually. It is right in that mix as one of the largest operators of seniors’ facilities in British Columbia and Ontario and one of Ontario’s largest operators of long-term-care facilities.

Despite the apparent demand, I haven’t seen a lot of competition entering the seniors care space, which leads me to believe that Sienna finds itself in a very enviable position to continue to expand its operations while growing its share of the market.a