Yes difficulty is rising, but so is the price of BTC. Since it's inception, BTC has basically doubled in value each year. Think about what that would mean for next year. Not bad ROI. In addition to mining, I'm using a bot to trade BTC and it's doing very well. Diversification is the key to success in any investment.
Irrelevant. If you need BTC price to rise above the price it was at when you made your purchase to break even or make a profit you made the wrong choice.