Anecdotal evidence seems to point to two retail investing trends. One is the outflow from stock funds into fixed income ones. The other is the rising tide in ETFs.

The first would probably not account for the lack of interest in thinking through the investment process that you highlight. The second certainly does, and it's getting cheaper by the day.

On top of which everybody and his dog is now an options expert. Who cares about fundamentals when you can play the market purely based on its wiggles and squiggles???
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