I've tracked every trade in my brokerage account since 2017, and last year I finally calculated that my 14 individual stock picks returned 6.2% while the VN-Index gained roughly 12%. My question: for a retail investor in Vietnam with a full-time job, is picking individual stocks ever worth the time, or does an index fund quietly win over a decade? I keep telling myself my research gives me an edge, but the spreadsheet says otherwise. Curious whether anyone here has actually beaten the index over 5+ years net of fees and taxes, or if we all just remember the winners.