why criticize a stock index and attempt to find stocks and make them more diversified

Most people don't have the time or skill to look at dozens of different stocks and have the knowledge to know what they are doing So they should just buy an index fund The average person doesn't have a lot of stock choices It's not like they can make high risk bets on Asian stocks or European stocks Also, the average person doesn't really have the time to research stocks I mean you can do it but unless you are an investor of some sort for a living or you have nothing else to do but read about stocks then you probably don't have the time to do it So I'm going to be honest here I think the average person should just buy an index fund The average person doesn't have the time or knowledge to choose stocks The same goes for gold and other precious metals The average person should just buy an index fund It should be noted that I'm not saying the average person should never buy individual stocks or gold I'm saying that most of the time for most people it's better to invest in an index fund A lot of people say that you shouldn't invest in stocks because the stock market is a gamble They say that there is no way to know what the market is going to do in the future And that is true; the stock market is a gamble But that's why you shouldn't invest in stocks The stock market is a gamble, so you shouldn't invest in it It's a gamble So what do you do? You don't gamble You invest in things that are not a gamble And investments that are not a gamble are things like bonds, CDs, and index funds