For starters: when we talk about "the market" here originally we're talking about mutual funds + etfs.

Now back to the point. When I say average Joe I was probably understating things - I'm talking about your rational, generally college educated, sentient being. When I say basic knowledge of economics, I mean knowledge or intuition of how unemployment, interest rates set by the fed, and global events can effect the economy (mostly for getting out when things are tanking and jumping in when they are on the up and up). When I say general knowledge of finance I mean more specifically trading savy - types of trading (trend, value...etc), ways to trade (short, long, margin, leverage), ..etc. And when I say domain knowledge I mean generally the domain the person works in and can pick a winner from a loser.

Now with that knowledge, the fact that a small investor can make small moves and not effect the security itself, and subtracting management fees, you mean to tell me just because a finance company puts their stamp on a mutual fund that means they'll do better than me?

My returns and the returns of folks I know that fit that characterization disagree with you.