I am a Full time Investor and Part time Trader. I have been investing almost before I became an Adult! I have a really BIG portfolio. Fact is my dividend income can pay for almost 33% of my HH expenses! My dad was CSE member and also served as committee member. I can smilingly add that "Stocks' are in my blood.
My part time trading 'time' always varied with the pressure of household responsibility.
No, I on my own did not find a working module. Most of the time the error lay in my 'indiscipline' rather then in the trading module.
I tried a big number of mentors , a few even from TJ. The relationship never lasted more than a few months, barring the current one which is about to celebrate first a'sary this Diwali !
How much did I blow before I became profitable? Well not much, maybe a few lakhs but always used the amount I earned as Capital gain while selling some 'long held' stock. I think the second part of the question is not applicable to me, frankly because I never was in 'actual' loss !
The lesson I learned the hard way during this journey was : Discipline is MOST important ingredient of any Trading module! Still striving to be disciplined a bit more every week, every month, after every trade! Seems I still have a long journey ahead to be fully disciplined.
I also understand that only with Total discipline one can AIM for the sky in stocks and not with partial or half hearted efforts at being disciplined. May seem like a boast but writing to put my point across a bit more clearly: I can afford to trade 10 Mega Lots of Crude but have been trading only 10 mini simply because of the 'half hearted' discipline I keep !
Reading the response of Nifty2830 above, with reference to your Post addressed to me makes me think that your Post was aimed at "testing' me and judging my response! I had for a moment thought of not responding but then I considered that your posts (Vijkris) are usually on the subject and not 'leg pullers' ! Treating this also accordingly and ignoring the comment by Nifty2830 I have replied as above!