Good points but individuals should spend time learning what drives the markets before committing one penny to it. The stock market is full of big harks waiting to eat the sardines that so willingly dive in without a clue.
The markets are driven by emotion so if you understand the main driving emotion at the time you will spot the trend. For example, the crowd simlply hated this bull market and it was not until late 2017 that they started to embrace, it, shortly after that the markets pulled back.
For novice traders, this link can provide some useful insights into the trader psychology
https://goo.gl/fC3HTB