That's active investment, in that you have to actively select Amazon and not one for the hundred other companies that listed and went nowhere.

> That's active investment

Nope. Buying something doesn't make it "active". Active means you are involved in managing the business. My example was buying AMZN and literally doing NOTHING with it for 20 years. It's the very definition of passive investing.

I'm sorry, but I believe you're quite mistaken with the definitions, at least as they are conventionally used (from Bloomberg [1]):

> Active investing is what used to just be called investing — buying or selling individual stocks or bonds.

>...

> Passive investments track indexes, which are groups of securities that are alike in some way.

[1]: https://www.bloomberg.com/quicktake/active-vs-passive-invest...

"Passive investing methods seek to avoid the fees and limited performance that may occur with frequent trading. Passive investing’s goal is to build wealth gradually. Also known as a buy-and-hold strategy, passive investing means buying a security with the intention to own it long term. Unlike active traders, passive investors do not seek to profit from short-term price fluctuations or market timing. "

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/passiveinvesting.asp

Besides, it doesn't make much sense to call someone an "active" investor who literally did nothing with it for 20 years. He wouldn't have even had to account for it on his taxes, as AMZN hasn't paid any dividends.

With the Vanguard index fund, the IRS is going to come looking for their cut every year.