Retail Investor

Isn't this kind of a derogatory term? "Retail" implies uninformed, at least semi-clueless, maybe stupid. But it's a Thing, and the sad truth is that most retail investors who don't just buy index funds and go play golf or do accounting or plow away snow...end up doing poorly when they try to invest. Little to no training. No understanding of how the financial journalists who write about companies have so little clue about how well or poorly companies are actually doing.

Retail investors actually trust journalists, pundits, and others who give away their stock-picking info, more or less for free...never asking the question, "If they were good, wouldn't they just keep their mouths shut and invest?" But retail investors don't ask that. They listen to Cramer and they read various journals and end up being poorer for not listening to Warren and just buying index funds.