Don't pick individual stocks / assets - There's a reason why index funds work

Conceptually, any individual company's expected long-term future value is zero.

Companies don't thrive that long these days. With the acceleration of technological progress, their hey-days may be even shorter.

But... I'd rather do it on my own!

If you manage your own portfolio of stocks / crypto assets / bonds, that means you'd have to make a lot of decisions on when to buy into a specific asset and when to sell.

That means you have to be on top of all the potential companies you could invest in! Otherwise how would you choose "the ones"?

If you end up managing individual stocks, coins, etc. - always benchmark whether you're doing better than what you'd get for almost free, by using an index fund.

For example, if you've made 50% in the last 6 months in tech stocks, but the NASDAQ100, or ARKK appreciated by more than 50%, you may be better off sticking to those funds that give you the same kind of exposure, but are a lot more diversified than what you'd be able to manage.

Also, benchmark not only the returns, but also the risk-adjusted returns as well.

Not convinced?

Here are two great articles, written by people who can actually write.