Dear Speculators, Theoretically, equity market investments provide the most attractive returns of any financial market. Since investors assume higher risks when purchasing common stocks, they are rewarded with high returns if the risk fails to materialize. Value conscious investors invest capital in stocks to gain returns in excess of inflation whilst moderately increasing their real wealth. However stock picking and market timing are two very important elements of investing that most (if not all) investors are still yet to perfect. While active money managers for decades have tried to outperform the market, very few have achieved this feat. This has increased interests in passive investing over the last few decades. In fact the introduction of index funds which allows investors to earn market returns at very little cost has provided investors an opportunity to quit fighting and accept the inevitable that they just can't beat the market! Today index funds manage trillion