You are missing out. In 2012 I bought AMD and NVDA for about $4 a share each and invested $3k total and now my investment is sitting around $200k. There have been some losers in that time frame like loan depot and others but overall I am up far more than I would be if I just invested in mutual funds.
If you are just investing in mutual funds you are not actually diversified and you should have some individual stocks. If you want to go the safe route there is always GE and others. Also finding stocks that pay consistent dividends and consistently increase the amount paid in dividends is another good strategy to add for individual stocks.