Actually there is no average investor in the stock market

There are just two groups of people or investors in stock market investment.

Either you make money or you do not make money.  There is no such thing as an average investor. 

It is not measured by a single trade, but through long term.  I have not met anyone who breakeven after ten years of investing.

That means as long as a person is in the market, or holding some shares, he must make money.  If he keeps on losing money, he will not last very long.

Either he will lose his patience, and put the money in the bank account, or his money will be gone, and he does not have the money for stock market anymore.

It all boils down to the method you use for investing or speculating. 

Many novices believe in luck and hot tips.  They think that they can get into a hot stock at the beginning of the cycle, and make a killing by selling out at the top of the cycle.

These are the ones who may get lucky at the beginning.

As a result of good luck, they will continue to bet more and more in the stock market, until their luck runs out, and they have no more money.  They will start to blame their luck or the market instead of admitting that they are the fools.

Never belittle the market, or think that you can beat the market.  Nobody can do that for long.

The wise investors respect the market, and they respect their limitation.

They know that they will lose money, so their first concern is to minimize their loss.

Capital protection is always more important than making a profit. When you have preserved the capital, you will always have another day to make money.

The wise investors know that they have to stay true to their winning strategy, even if it fails them for the short term.