[DesertCat]

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Do you think most people can learn to pick stocks well?

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No. Not even most 2+2ers. The basics of how to value a company are pretty easy, but the uniqueness of each individual business are what makes it hard. But on top of that you have psychology. A value investor struggles to separate the noise of the market from what they factually know about the value of a stock. It's not easy, it requires a strong constitution and utter conviction in your approach.

For example during the crash of 87, Buffett went on a buying spree. Right now that might not seem like a brave act, but many people thought it was the end of the world, that a new great depression was starting and that the market would tank for years.

Robert Cialdini wrote a very good book called "influence" that describes how we all make sub optimal decisions due to psychological factors, and everything he wrote is applicable to the investor. There are many bad behaviors that reduce your effectiveness as an investor. One classic is holding on to a stock that you know know was a mistake to buy, hoping it will go back up so you can sell it a small profit to validate your own ego.

So essentially, you have to be above average in smarts, have the right training, but you absolutely need the right disposition.

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Are 90+% of the people picking stocks either extensively trained by a professional or were a professional themselves? Do you think people can pick this up just reading?

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I'm a self employed "professional" so I can't comment extensively on real professionals. I picked it all up reading Graham, Buffett, Joel Greenblatt, Philip Fisher, & Peter Lynch.