The main reason for me is that it's intuitive/comprehensible (company shares profits with stock owners) and it aligns with my goals (create passive income) in a

The main reason for me is that it's intuitive/comprehensible (company shares profits with stock owners) and it aligns with my goals (create passive income) in a visible and flexible way. Other options are more abstract and require more specialized finance knowledge. It might be suboptimal, but when you're planning your financial future understanding what's happening is important and I suspect is one of the reasons more people don't invest. My country also has different rules on how dividends are taxed.