if you have special insights into a stock, you could profit from being the first in the market to act on it. But you cannot be sure you are right or first; after all, the market is full of people at least as smart as you. So, in sum, it may not be worth your while to spend all that time and money getting the information in the first place. Cheaper and safer to ride with the market. Buy a stock index fund. Relax. Be passive. Or as Samuelson at MIT put it: “They also serve who only sit and hold.”
