Yeah you can do alot of thing as an average investors do,
1. index funds
2. direct physical gold,
3. Etf
4. mutual funds
But as I have seem from their past performance, non-of them was able to give consistent profit. so you really can't compound your money through them, they are only good as an inflation hedge.
And if there is any pessimism in the market, I will be the first to buy stocks..