Active investingActive investing means taking time to research your investments and constructing and maintaining your portfolio on your own. In simple terms, if you plan to buy and sell individual stocks through an , you're planning to be an active investor. To successfully be an active investor, you'll need three things:Time: Active investing requires lots of homework. You'll need to research stocks, perform some basic , and keep up with your investments after you buy them.Knowledge: All the time in the world won't help if you don't know how to analyze investments and properly . While you don't need a mathematics degree to be an effective investor, you should at least be familiar with some of the basics of analyzing stocks before you invest in them.Desire: Many people simply don't want to spend hours on their investments. Since passive investments have historically produced strong returns, there's absolutely nothing wrong with this approach. As once said regarding passive investing, "It isn't necessary to do extraordinary things to get extraordinary results." Active investing certainly has the potential for superior returns, but you have to want to spend the time to get it right.It's also important to understand what we don't mean by active investing. Active investing doesn't mean buying and selling stocks frequently, it certainly doesn't mean , and it doesn't mean buying stocks because you think they will go up over the next few weeks or months., Start investing with a basic understanding of how it works -- and which rookie mistakes to avoid. Here are some of the most tried-and-true ways to put your money to work for you., Find the best online brokers and trading platforms for your investing goals. Our analysis of 20+ brokers reveals the top picks for 2025..