Group 1 - The article emphasizes the importance of selecting individual stocks over investing solely in index funds like the S&P 500, noting that only a few stocks achieve significant long-term outperformance [1] - High-performing stocks are often well-known and related to businesses that consumers interact with regularly, indicating that familiarity can be an advantage in stock selection [2] - The accessibility of information has drastically changed over time, making it easier for investors to gather data and insights necessary for stock picking [3][4] Group 2 - In the past, investors faced challenges in accessing information, which made stock selection more time-consuming and difficult, but this also provided opportunities to gain an edge by uncovering less obvious data [3] - The current landscape allows for quick access to relevant information through online searches and chatbots, simplifying the stock selection process [4] - Early investment strategies often focused on low-priced stocks, as investors believed that purchasing more shares at lower prices would yield better returns [5]

Let me tell you why I do this show and why I wrote How to Make Money in Any Market. For most of my life, pretty much everybody in America recognized that picking individual stocks was a fantastic way to get rich as long as you did it right. Not everybody agreed on the right way to do it.But practically everyone accepted that it was certainly worth doing. Then the. com bubble burst in year 2000 and picking individual stocks suddenly went out of style at least for regular people.Suddenly there was a new conve ...