There are now financial entrepreneurs who believe--I'm sure, sincerely (if with a heavy dollop of self-interest)--that they can create indexes that will beat the market.

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"Given the continuing high levels of unemployment, we can expect little to no impact on small business wages and employment levels from the return of the employee payroll tax to its previous level, " said Susan Woodward, the economist who worked with Intuit to create the indexes.

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In a similar fashion, you can create a broadly diversified portfolio but choose an active management strategy instead of simply buying and holding to track the major indexes (which is passive management).

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