In 2002, the Investment Company Institute, the industry group for mutual fund companies, found that just about half (52.7 million or 49.5%) of all U.S. households owned stock in some way. But just 21 million households (fewer than 20%) owned individual stocks outside their 401(k) plans and other mutual funds. I know that much has changed since 2002, but I’m betting that those figures are still in the ballpark. And that’s because owning mutual funds is easy. If you own a chunk of a fund that owns a basket of stocks, you don’t have to watch the daily movements...