If I can start my crypto journey from the scratch, all over again or I have all the money I had years ago I won't repeat same mistake, the first thing that I found very hard to strongly believe back then is...
Spending some money on Cold storage, a Trezor maybe, I use to underestimate this, even when I have heard it multiple times before, yet I choose the easy way out, without even the proper research.
If I choose to spend that money that was hard for me to spend on a hardware wallet then I would have safe myself from some losses.
It's easier to find the definition of Bitcoin online at the time but it's a bit complex to know out of the box that there is something called cold wallet or custodial wallet, it was confusing to me, so I just visit google for answer and yes Legder and Trezor are always the first, instead I went on google play store for bitcoin wallet, I mean, why spend dollars on a hardware wallet when a software wallet can do the same?
This was how I found FreeWallet, I use this to store some Bitcoin, it was easier for me because it required only email login and password, I stumbled on some that ask me to write down recovery seed but it was stressful for me, stupid me, since Free wallet sync with my email I thought that's all that matters and I lost it all, can't log into my account anymore, as if Freewallet swapped my password and log in info.
Things are different now, in fact way better, still if you are new and you want to DCA into Bitcoin, kindly consider getting a Trezor wallet at least, don't keep Bitcoin worth $2000, $10,000 on a software wallet, even if its a open source software wallet I believe this amount is too much for a software wallet, having this much means you can afford a hardware wallet.
I don't agree with what you are saying, because as long as you are sure that the precautions you are taking when using software wallets are correct, that is fine. Because I know someone who has been here for several years in the crypto space, he is able to store a huge amount in a software wallet like Ethereum, and he is the only one who knows the seed phrase, even though his last wife does not know it.
As long as the electrum version is always updated, it will not be a problem. So, if you're careless, your wallet with funds can really be in trouble; it's that simple to understand.