This seems to be conflating buy & hold with passive investing. What is it called when you don't invest in index funds you pick stocks and then buy and hold them for the long term? Seems to me there is passive and active investing and the opposite of buy & hold is day trading.
I'm also not sure that I buy the argument made elsewhere in this thread that you need active to make passive work. Indexes upon which funds are based often have a system of rules for how individual stocks are added and removed from the index that are based on the companies financial performance which is what ultimately drives the stock.
> What is it called when you don't invest in index funds you pick stocks and then buy and hold them for the long term?
It's not so much about time-frames but rather familiarity with the details of a company or sector, but the term you're looking for is probably value investing.
I'm also not sure that I buy the argument made elsewhere in this thread that you need active to make passive work. Indexes upon which funds are based often have a system of rules for how individual stocks are added and removed from the index that are based on the companies financial performance which is what ultimately drives the stock.