[sgbuffett]

What most traders and investors are better off giving up and use a simple dollar cost averaging method to invest their money.

The learning curve to be a successful stock picker or consistent trader is too steep and long for non professionals. Most will either one their money before they can attain the skills.

Typically what happen is this:

1. Someone wants to be a trader or investor. He picks a few books to read how to do it. He finds quite easy to understand and thinking he is very smart start to trade. Worse still he attends a 3 or 5 day course conducted by a "guru:" and thinks he got the skills. Say this happens in 2021 where we are having bull market.

2. Everything he long turns to gold. He feel he has mastered it. That is until a severe correction when they do the same thing And lost money every time ...then they begin to realise they aren't so smart.

3. Then they go and try to modify what they learn and sophistry like use options etc. But they are actually digging into a deeper hole.

4. By the time they dig in and get out most would have given up or lost alot and forced to give up.

The market does not yield to any methods easily because it is a probabilistic system, you can do all the right things and still lose money. You can do the wrong things and make money. So learning becomes nearly impossible. The problem is making money does mot mean you you stumble upon a successful method beacause you may be swept up by bubbles and bull markets. 

Hence it is better for ordinary investors to just use a simple proven method like dollar cost averaging on diversified ETFs over long periods and not be distracted.