Apologies in advance if this sounds like a dumb question. I just recently got started with my investing journey, so my knowledge in this area is very elementary, but why do so many people suggest most investors to just buy an ETF that tracks the S&P 500 instead of just buying a stock like AAPL? Just from looking at the historical charts, it seems apparent that AAPL has vastly outperformed the S&P 500 since its inception, so why would it not be better to buy and hold AAPL?
My guess is that stocks like AAPL are more volatile in a shorter time frame, so it depends on my investment timeframe. If I'm investing for the long-run (say 20-30 years), does that change the answer compared to investing for a shorter timeframe?
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