Easiest Match your employer's 401K every paycheck then allow it to percolate Hire a fund manager who's payment is directly tied to results Find / create a codable system - code..., then let it do the heavy lifting Hardest (but one ends up with a skill that's irreplaceable and priceless) Hire someone / third party to teach you to trade - figure out why that doesn't work - then put in the work to unlearn / relearn what it actually takes Learn to be a trader without hiring anyone These two take time and work - think of it as the tuition necessary for a world class education RN
The key is keep adding (DCA), no matter how market is doing. When the market is down big or flat you keep adding and you’ll be golden. I remember in 2008-09 some of my friends were disgusted by the market and pulled out into cash in their 401k. I kept adding to mine from every paycheck. Boy was I rewarded 10 years later! Of course this is all betting in the long term the US economy is growing. The Japanese economy is a different story. So luck does count. Lol
There is not only one method that works. A particular method will work most of the times if applying correctly. Since we are dealing with probability, works more than half of the times is good enough. Our personality affects how we apply a method. As such, certain method is better suited for certain personality. In summary, the matching of method and personality is a challenging one based on the percentage of winner.
From my perspective, assuming directional trading, the difficulty increases as a function of time frame and leverage - where highly leveraged short term trading is the most difficult. This type of trading requires accuracy and both fast and correct decisions. There's not much room for error and you really need to know what you're doing at all times and stay the hell out when you don't. If you trade higher time frames with low leverage you can be more sloppy and the average risk/reward ratio is higher which means you can make money even with a lower win rate. For example, a 30 % win rate with a 1:5 risk/reward gives you a positive expectancy.
Easiest: Dollar Cost Averaging into VTI or VOO Hardest: Trying to get in at the IPO on the next Apple, Amazon, or Microsoft.