Why buying individual stocks is a bad idea
Even if you’ve never made an overt decision to invest in the stock market, stocks form the foundation of your retirement investing. (At least if you’re like the vast majority of Americans, they do.) That’s because your 401(k) — or equivalent employer retirement plan — is only allowed to invest in mutual funds, and most mutual funds invest in the stock market.
If you are investing through a Roth IRA account, though, you do have options. You can invest in mutual funds (of which index funds are a subset) or you can buy stocks individually. Does that mean you should buy individual stocks for your Roth IRA?