For me, this is key. There’s an opportunity cost with picking stocks. I’d rather spend time with family and friends than poring over reports etc.
Also, time spent on research in the hope of eking out a little outperformance can be better devoted to increasing earnings in my view.
But it doesn’t have to be black and white in terms of stocks vs passive trackers – you could also look at active funds or trusts to complement ETFs.
It’s a lot less of a timesink to select stock pickers. While many underperform, some do consistently outperform their benchmarks too.