If you are like most people, stock picking is probably not for you. You want to put your money somewhere and let someone else deal with it. A mutual fund company pools your money with money from hundreds or thousands of like-minded investors and invests it for all of you.
Professional managers decide what investments are the best ones to be into and out of.
It's like hiring your own investment advisor at a tiny fraction of the price. You also get a diversified portfolio without having to invest a lot of capital. Some have no minimum investment. The answer is quite a bit with the right fund. You have decided to put that into a growth mutual fund and let the income and capital gains reinvest.