The Dalbar study also concluded that most long-term, passive investors are fickle about holding their investments.

FORBES: Bad Rap For Buy and Hold

Academic studies discussed in The Power of Passive Investing find that portfolios holding only index funds beat portfolios holding actively-managed funds 95 percent of the time over a 10-year period.

FORBES: Earn 2 Percent More in 3 Easy Steps

But the resistance is politically passive and a cross-party consensus in favour is holding.

ECONOMIST: Germany and Afghanistan

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).

FORBES: 4 Ways To Use ETFs In Your Portfolio

My latest book, The Power of Passive Investing, documented a 90 percent probability that an all index fund portfolio, holding 10 funds in different categories, will outperform a portfolio holding 10 comparable randomly selected active funds over a 5-year period.

FORBES: Index Fund Buyers are Skilled Investors