I am considering a hard wallet like Nano Ledger, but what features/benefits would I be missing out on with a hard wallet??
Ledger is a closed source wallet but it is still somehow safe than regular software wallets because keys are not exposed online.
You also need to buy ledger wallet and spend money and that is something you may miss.
My primary strategy is to BUY and HOLD, ie hodl, my currency. I need a wallet that is secure, pays on staking, pays interest, and based on security aspects I prefer decentralized. What wallet should I look into?? This has been a daunting task because the choices are overwhelming...but I need a solution QUICK!
Open source hardware wallets like Trezor, Coldacrd or Bitbox would be the best for holding your coins.
As far as I know there is no staking or lending for Bitcoin on ledger wallet, but only for few stable coins like DAI, USDT and USDC and staking for altcoins like Tezos, Tron, Cosmos, Algorand and Polkadot.
Earning interest for Bitcoin means that you would have to give up ownership of your Bitcoin and you would receive small interest for that from BitGo or other centralized custodian.