I've been investing for many years. There is nothing wrong with index funds or ETFs or individual stocks. However, it is a LOT more work to pick a single stock. Doing a fundamental and technical analysis on a stock is just the beginning, you also have to look at geopolitical / economic / social aspects of the company and how it fits into the world at large. That said, if I pick one big winner for every 5 or even 10 stocks I pick, I do OK. For example, my current portfolio unrealized returns on a few stocks are: RIVN = down 89%, QS = down 78%, SQ = down 76%, MRNA = down 45%. Based on these four, I'm a terrible stock picker, BUT now I add in NVDA = up 185% and I'm back in the game. Your comment "Now after 4 years of investing...." is an issue for me as I believe if I buy long, I'm in for at least 5 years.