Feel free to buy individual stocks, but only with money you can afford to throw away. Picking stocks is gambling, pure and simple. Fun as it is, you should not expect to retire and live comfortably from your winnings. Study after study has shown, quite rigorously, that there exists no method at all for picking winning stocks. Feel free to read A Random Walk Down Wall Street for a more detailed analysis.
I've read that book, and a bunch of others. There is a method for picking winning stocks. Buy low, wait, sell higher. If you are disciplined, it is not gambling, unless you believe in the efficient market theory. Looking at how certain stocks are valued today, I don't see how anyone could believe that.
Of course, a stock that is valued below book could still drop further. And that is why you stage your buys, and must be ready to hold for the longer term.
Right now, we have a bunch of stocks with historic lows. I stand by my assertion that now is a great time to pick stocks if you meet the above provisions.
As with all things, there is no reward without risk - but you can manage your risk in various ways (staging buys is just one).
"Buy low and wait until you can sell high" is not a method for picking winning stocks. If you buy a stock, then wait until its increase has exceeded inflation, you may find yourself waiting forever.
Feel free to buy individual stocks, but only with money you can afford to throw away. Picking stocks is gambling, pure and simple. Fun as it is, you should not expect to retire and live comfortably from your winnings. Study after study has shown, quite rigorously, that there exists no method at all for picking winning stocks. Feel free to read A Random Walk Down Wall Street for a more detailed analysis.