I don't hate the idea of stocks. You invest in a company that needs capital. You own a little piece and get a dividend based of the profits those companies make.
Its the constant growth model, where the value of the stocks have to constantly grow, the "If you are not growing, you are dying mentality." where the growth of stocks became the value and not the reliability of the dividends they provide.
I got tired of feeding a machine that treated me like it owned my interactions.