Primarily ETF investor for years and that's still majority of portfolio. But diving into charting and fundamental analysis for individual stocks actually made me better ETF investor too, which wasn't expected.
Main insight was understanding what I'm actually buying in a broad index. Looking at constituent level data showed how much concentration exists in S&P 500 now and how mega caps dominate returns.
Times I consider individual stocks over ETFs: genuine expertise in a sector where I evaluate specific companies better than index weighting, extreme valuation disparities within sector where ETF forced to own expensive names, business I want exposure to without good ETF coverage.
Use valuesense to chart metrics over time and compare individual stocks against sector. Seeing Costco's margins trend versus consumer staples sector average gives useful context.
For most sectors most of the time, ETF is right choice. Stock picking makes sense only with clear specific reason.