Should you be a "hands-on" investor?

If you want to send your children or grandchildren to college, retire comfortably and achieve other important life goals, you will have to invest — it’s that simple. But the process of investing can sometimes seem anything but simple. What can you do to gain confidence that you are making the right investment moves?

The answer may depend on how involved you want to be with your investment decisions. Initially, you might think that you would like to be totally “hands on.” After all, how you save and invest your money is unquestionably a highly personal matter. And once you start exploring the i...