I read other articals that are against index funds . with proof showing that the only make money on 10-20 days of the year. while loosing on all the other. so yes if you would look at the anual history it may have made money but you have to be in on all the bad days aswell ... The name of thwe aurther was rick edelman in "the lies about money" . He disproves mutual funds...
It's clear from your writing that you are not very familiar with investing. Index funds are a great way to buy market exposure as indicated by the index. It's a great way to have a diversified portfolio at very low cost. I can cite hundreds of pages on references discussing the pros and cons of index funds. However, for your purpose and because you don't want to risk all your capital I'd suggest the index fund or if you must invest on your own then something top shelf like AAPL. Just so you know though the reason that Vanguard is so successful is because they focus on offering low cost low maintenance funds which cause their funds to consistently outperform.
Look if you're looking to make a little extra then an index fund can do that for you primarily by lowering your expense ratio and trading costs.
If on the other hand you're looking to become the next Buffet or Druckenmiller then by all means
open a paper trading account and read up on the market first. You won't be doing yourself any favors by just buying stocks, bonds, options, futures, commodities, currencies, etc. willy nilly. There's someone way smarter than you on the other side of the trade who probably knows something you don't.
I've found good place to start with a paper portfolio might be trademonster.