Thank you, I have this miraculous effect on people.
Now let's bombard you with numbers. Here are the AVERAGE HF's returns in the last 5 years:
http://www.barclayhedge.com/research/indices/ghs/Hedge_Fund_Index.html
It is probably impossible to get an average retail return, unless you have access to a brokerage. Nevertheless we can find some numbers :
http://www.investopedia.com/articles/active-trading/053115/average-rate-return-day-traders.asp
Now we have the problem of different timeframes, nevertheless:
"Taiwan Stock Exchange from 1995 through 1999. In a typical six-month period more than 80 percent of day traders lost money, and only 1 percent of them could be called predictably profitable."
So the average HF in the last 5 years (being positive 4 times out of 5) beat the average Taiwan retail traders between 95 to 99. But I said top 10%, not average. Also, once you get your breathing back, you can google average HF performance for 95 to 1999.
The very best HF's performance was for the last 3 years:
" Larry Robbins’ Glenview Offshore Opportunity fund claimed the No. 1 spot, with an impressive three-year annualized gain of 57%."
http://www.barrons.com/articles/barrons-best-100-hedge-funds-2015-list-1431743877
Here is the list of the best:
http://www.barrons.com/articles/best-100-hedge-funds-for-2015-1431743869
I am sure we can find retail traders beating that...
Here is an article comparing traders and investors:
http://www.travismorien.com/FAQ/trading/futradersuccess.htm
And here is a help for you and OP: google.com