is this stock mkt for the retail investor? 1of 3

i have read several stories of 'investment gurus' who started investing with pocket change .... have become millionaires and of course 'gurus' in the process. but is it possible to do so in today's day and age?

if at all tht is possible, do u simply follow the guru-speak and the strategies they used? Warren Buffet has always spoken of long term value investing whereby you choose good securities (how do u do tht? )and then stay invested in them over the long term. most gurus tend to agree on this as the best way to make money in the market. but is this strategy workable now or have the rules of the game changed dramatically? i say this cos' the recent secular tumble down of the global stock markets show that if u had invested in the top index stocks in US or India or Europe 10years ago and stayed invested throughout then your total investment gains today will be........................................................................................................................ZILCH if not NEGATIVE.
so if tht does not work no more, your other option is what is called trading. now again if u choose good securities which are priced right according to you in the present (again, how do u do that? wait some more ...), you have now the added problem of when to sell, at what percentage gain or when to walk away and take a loss... AND HOW DO U DO DECIDE THT??... hence the game only gets more complex....

of course, trading means tht u have to devote far greater time looking at the market and its gyrations and decide how often you want to get in and cash out...

and to answer all the HOW DO U DO THTs...well it is again more investment of time and hard work in terms of research and in knowledge of the fundamentals and technicals, understanding the P/E ratio, the support and resistance levels, the 200 day moving average, MACD and so on and so forth....

so as a retail investor r u upto it...............to be contd.