4 Signs You're Ready to Graduate From ETFs to Picking Stocks

There's nothing wrong with investing solely in exchange-traded funds (ETFs) if that's your comfort zone. An ETF gives you a basket of stocks that tracks the performance of an index, like the S&P 500, which represents more than 80% of the U.S. stock market by market capitalization. Considering that stock market returns average 9% to 10% annually, simply achieving market returns over a long-enough period is a surefire way to build wealth.