I was replying to a thread elsewhere and I realized that when you invest direct, you not only have to beat the index, but you also have to outperform an active mutual fund.
Of course, the learning, excitement and joy of doing direct is still a bonus.
Also came across this:
Prof. Pattu is not a right person to consult on the stock picking and to ask whether to invest in direct stocks as he is a professor good in statistics , mathematical calculations and very good in excel sheets. But by his own admission, he never try to understand a business module or read annual reports and concalls. Its not his domain. If you want to know about index funds and in-depth knowledge about indexing, he is an expert in that
Here is a good reply from Aswath Damodaran about active investing and why he does it. This resonates very well with me.
The whole video is very useful. The part that is relevant to this thread is linked below. Starts at 1:20:46
In a nutshell, I invest directly because I enjoy the process, feel like I’m gaining better knowledge about businesses, and stay informed about what’s happening in the business world. I have been investing since 2012, and here is my journey if you have more time to read 
For the initial two years, I engaged in day trading whenever I had the time, whether resulting in profit or loss, but I used to enjoy it. I believed I had made some money, but when I carefully examined the numbers, I realized that all the profit was wiped out by brokerage charges. I only gained experience and realized that trading is not for me.
Subsequently, I have asked ICICIDirect to handle my account under the wealth management service. I invested around 2 lakhs, and they only invested in one stock without making any further moves for the next two years. Although the stock gained 40%, but it didn’t bring me satisfaction.
In 2015, I began investing in mutual funds for tax-saving purposes and simultaneously started investing in direct stocks (only in a few thousands since I’m not confident enough) by reading books and following some good blogs. Again, I was not satisfied with mutual funds, not because they weren’t making money (some of these funds are still holding, and XIRR is around 16%), but I stopped investing in mutual funds and returned to direct investing, this time with a long-term approach. I still hold some two stocks from 2017.
From 2017 to 2020, I exclusively invested in direct stocks, using all my money, including some funds from the mutual funds I sold and money drawn from PF (yes!). During the 2020 crash, my portfolio went down almost 40%, and I didn’t take any action with my portfolio, neither buying nor selling, until October 2020. From October 2020 onwards, I started buying again.
Fast forward to today, I have achieved around a 20% XIRR on the overall portfolio, with approximately 70% of my investments in direct stocks. However, after witnessing a 40% drawdown during COVID, I made a slight change. I began investing in mutual funds through the SIP route to take off some risk and leave it to fund managers. My mutual funds are also performing well, with an XIRR of around 18-20%.
In conclusion, investing in direct stocks gives me a kick and excitement Now I know where to spend all my free time, even when I retire from active life. I have sorted out my post-retirement activity, which involves reading and investing!
