Welcome to the boards. FYI, this particular board is populated mostly by those already retired, so you’ll probably get some “here’s what worked for us” type answers.
My own example, and what I advise my children (who are about your age): Index funds. Personally, DH’s and my assets are currently in VBIAX, VFIAX, and FLPSX. They’re down now, of course (you can google their graphs), but the balances are still way higher than if the money had been in cash for the last few years. I’m still putting money into them (“buy low”), confident they’ll recover at some point. I do keep enough in FDIC-insured accounts to sleep at night.
I also manage my dad’s finances. He’s 96, and I keep enough in his checking account to cover the next two years of his assisted living. The rest is in his brokerage account, in equities. That’s up about 12% from this time last year, down 13% YTD. His broker selects individual companies, about a dozen at any one time, and knows them pretty well. He’s done very well for Dad over the decades, and if he were younger I’d hire him to manage my own portfolio, but he’s in his 70’s and nearing retirement, so I think I’ll stick with index funds.
Meanwhile, for Dad, even if his brokerage account drops by half, it’ll still be enough for five years, so I figure there’s no harm in letting it ride.
We tried to find a financial planner
Try https://www.napfa.org/ if you haven’t already.
We collectively have 53 stocks spread across the accounts
That’s a lot.
Good luck!