Interactive
learning is a prime opportunity to
avoid this kind of
passive information retention, as according to research, the majority of students
learn more — up to 60 % more, in fact — interacting (with a resource, or other people) than they do reading.
If you want to beat the crowds / indices, I think there's two ways to go about it — i) take a relatively
passive approach, but become knowledgeable & experienced enough to exit over-valued markets & to over-commit (or
avoid selling) in distressed markets, ii) as I've said, invest the time / effort & tackle / climb that
learning curve so you
learn how to consistently assemble & manage a well diversified portfolio of mispriced stocks.