Does anyone regret not buying individual stocks/staying with index

[uksho]

I follow this forum and all my money is in index funds. Considering my friends are making a ton in market right now , sometimes I think if that is the correct policy( I understand I will not be thinking the same, if market was crashing. I am not sure what will cause the market to crash, if it did not happen during COVID year , from Jan to Dec). To be clear, I am not talking about putting money in one stock

Ready for your comments!

[jacoavlu]

are your friends selling?

[8arclay]

I tried trading individual stocks early in my investing career. Didn't take long to realize it's a fools game for most. Took care of the itch I had, no FOMO for me

[CordMcNally]

Never. I’m actually more thankful during times like these that I don’t dabble in that. You’re going to have a lot of people thinking they know what they’re doing and they’re going to end up in bad shape. Look back at previous times during the stock market with similar atmospheres and how those people fared. Your friends would be smart to take some advice from Kenny Rogers...”know when to walk away and know when to run”.

[racelari]

nope- just think of AOL, Enron, Washington Mutual, Lehman Brothers, Blockbuster, Polaroid, GM, Toys R Us- you take a lot of risk in individual stocks, and the gain is not even close to guaranteed. I sleep better at night being in index funds, and will make enough money to meet my financial goals.

The total stock market index has always gone up given enough time. As Paul Merriman says, "There has never been a permanent bear market."

[Anne]

After someone wins 24 million on powerball do you kick yourself for not buying a ticket? No, because you have a much higher chance of picking non-winning numbers than winning numbers. Picking individual stocks isn’t as extreme as that, but I know I don’t really know what I’m doing so no I don’t regret only indexing. It’s worked for me over my approximately 17 year investing timeline to date. I guess I could have a lot more $ if I had picked all the winners to date but I also could have a lot less, and it would have been a lot more stress/mental energy. As it is I have enough, far more than I ever imagined having at this point in my life. My strong points are consistency and discipline, indexing allows me to take full advantage of those strengths while not penalizing me for the vast ocean of things I don’t know.

[Nysoz]

I pick individual stocks. Just know for every person that’s making a lot of money picking stocks there’s likely an equal or more number of people losing a lot of money that you don’t hear from.

If you have this stock picking itch/fomo, take a relatively small amount and consider it fun/gambling money and pick your stocks. You may do well and have a knack for it. If you don’t, consider it tuition for learning a lesson.

[uksho]

I pick individual stocks. Just know for every person that’s making a lot of money picking stocks there’s likely an equal or more number of people losing a lot of money that you don’t hear from.

If you have this stock picking itch/fomo, take a relatively small amount and consider it fun/gambling money and pick your stocks. You may do well and have a knack for it. If you don’t, consider it tuition for learning a lesson.

I did earlier this year, before market crash, less than 10 grand in an established company , made a small amount 25 percent so far.

I had only strongly considered investing in individual stocks three times

Facebook the day after their IPO, Tesla when their stocks were down after a fire in one of the cars and in Amazon in March .

Anyway, I respect everyone’s advice and will stay the course, what I am regretting now is in hindsight . I might do small amounts every year.

to answer another question , yes , some friends have sold and got their original investment.

[VentAlarm]

Heck no. I’m 100% total stock market index. I have a 403b, gov-457b and backdoor Roth x2. In March, I saw what was going on and decided to start a taxable account. Current balance is 7,223, 2,094 of which is gain. That’s the closest I get to stock picking or timing the market. Now that the markets seem a little more rational (if not exuberant), we’re back to building cash reserves and paying down mortgage.

Aggressive debt pay down, frugal living, high savings rate and index funds have led to having net worth of mid 300s at 2.5 years into being an attending with a mortgage of ~2x income being refi’ed to a rate of 2.875. Goal is 1/2M net worth by Jan 1 next year with 300k in retirement funds - and I’m on pace for that.

It’s not about getting the highest possible returns, it’s about meeting your goals in the most efficient way possible. Why in the world would I risk going bust when I’m on pace to meet all my goals and a large increase in NW wouldn’t materially change my life?

[VentAlarm]

I did earlier this year, before market crash, less than 10 grand in an established company , made a small amount 25 percent so far.

I had only strongly considered investing in individual stocks three times

Facebook the day after their IPO, Tesla when their stocks were down after a fire in one of the cars and in Amazon in March .

Anyway, I respect everyone’s advice and will stay the course, what I am regretting now is in hindsight . I might do small amounts every year.

to answer another question , yes , some friends have sold and got their original investment.

You sure? Could certainly be some recall bias.

[TheDangerZone]

Buy and hold indexing. No regrets, and no stress either.

[wideopenspaces]

My husband's amazon stock vests in 6 days and I've literally been counting it down for months. I hate it, even if it's doubled since he got it. We will immediately sell, pay taxes, and invest the rest in index funds in our taxable account. Individual stocks are not for me. Too anxiety provoking. I don't know how people sleep at night investing in single stocks!

[coastal]

Folks don't talk about their stock picks that didn't do well... Everyone seems to have "bought some Tesla early". Too much work/not enough interest for me to try and figure out individual stocks. I invested $1000 in a single hot tech stock that had dropped nearly 20 years ago as a university student. It went to zero/bankrupt. Good lesson early!

Many people will do very well with strategies other than index funds. Many won't, or will do less well than index funds. Losing a large sum of money would make me really sad and make my life worse. A "big win" might accelerate when I could retire, but I'm not looking to get out early and more money wouldn't change my life substantially. Asymmetric risk benefit. As recommended in other responses, if you have an itch to scratch, do it with a small portion of your portfolio.

[Tim]

I regret that I couldn’t buy individual stocks that met my criteria.
Rule 1 Always make money
Ruie 2 See rule 1.

[Dont_know_mind]

Heck no.
I’m a loser when it comes to individual stock picking.