On Monday, General Electric gave a board seat to Ed Garden, co-founder of the $12.7 billion hedge fund Trian Partners. And this morning, when Procter & Gamble holds its yearly shareholder meeting, all eyes will be on another Trian partner, activist investor Nelson Peltz. Trian owns a 1.5 percent stake in the struggling Cincinnati-based consumer […]

It’s been a big week for activist investors — with Bill Ackman resigning from J.C. Penney’s board and Carl Icahn taking a big stake in Apple.

Many investor prefer actively picking stocks and bonds or hiring a money manager to select stocks. So what should you know?

Should you research individual companies or take the 'set-it and forget it' approach to investing?