Only a Few Stocks Provided Majority of Our Gains

I recently reviewed my investment results and concluded that the majority of the investment gains were due to a few stocks that we owned.  For example, great returns on GOOGL, NVDA, MSFT, AAPL and VISA contributed a lot to our investment accounts.   A large percentage of the other stocks were either negative or contributed very little.

This is also supported by a chart I found on LinkedIn:

My conclusion:

1. Pick only winning stocks.   Highly unlikely for me to do this consistently or even at all.
2. Diversify enough to also purchase the winning stocks, but also own on the non contributing stocks.  This requires owning numerous stocks and significant effort to manage on an ongoing basis.
3. Buy an index,  which diversifies and periodically eliminates poor performers.  This involves owning just a few EFTs or mutual funds.

I've tried #1 and failed.  I've tried #2 and although returns were positive, my  returns were less than the indices.   I'm moving to #3 for most future investments, and will by only individual stocks on an occasional basis. 

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This is not financial, stock picking nor investment advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

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