The smartest thing an individual investor or trader can do is put their money in extremely low-cost index funds and leave them there. I have worked as a trader

The smartest thing an individual investor or trader can do is put their money in extremely low-cost index funds and leave them there. I have worked as a trader at various large financial services firms for almost a decade now. Even though I believe I have more insight into the markets in general than the lay person - the moment I decide to trade for myself, I will not get the same quality of execution and breadth of services I would sitting at my work desk...