Can I own individual bonds inside a brokerage account or should I use a bond fund?

You can do either through most brokerages. Buying individual bonds means you pick specific issues and hold them to maturity to get your principal back on a known date, which gives certainty but requires more effort, larger amounts to diversify, and attention to credit quality and pricing. A bond fund or bond ETF instantly diversifies across many bonds for a low expense ratio and is far simpler, though its price fluctuates and there's no single maturity date. For most investors, especially those still building wealth, a low-cost total bond market index fund is the easier, more diversified way to hold bonds. Individual bonds make more sense for large portfolios or when you need cash on a specific future date, such as U.S. Treasuries held to maturity for a known goal.