The Intellectual Investor

My wife and I are taking a perfectly good 25-year-old house and spending 20% of the purchase price on a sizable remodel. Parts of it are going back to the studs. I had never done a big remodel, I knew nothing about construction, and I was shocked by how many landmines, wrong decisions, and outright deceptions we had to avoid just to start.

Strangely, the experience gave me incredible empathy for the smart, highly educated people who walk into a financial firm like mine: lawyers, doctors, engineers, businesspeople trying to decide who will manage their life savings. They feel what I felt. A mix of confusion, fear, and paralysis.

So I interviewed a dozen contractors and designers the way I would interview a CEO. From the competent ones, I learned new things; from the incompetent ones, I learned what incompetence looks like. Out of that came two tests I now apply to anyone I hire, including someone who manages money.

I walk through the tuna test, borrowed from Jiro Ono’s tuna supplier in “Jiro Dreams of Sushi,” and what it reveals about advisors, planners, brokers, and asset managers who sell a dozen things under one roof. I discuss the incentive test, Charlie Munger’s line about incentives and outcomes, a story from Soviet Russia about my parents’ summer house, and the difference between the suitability and fiduciary standards. And I explain how to hand an SEC Form ADV to an AI model and finally read the fine print.

The full essay is at investor.fm.

_________________________________________________________ 🔗 LINKS MENTIONED: ADV Form https://imausa.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/2026-05-22-IMA-ADV-2AB-May-2026.pdf

Trusting a Stranger with Your House (or Your Money) PDF https://investor.fm/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Trusting-a-Stranger-with-Your-House-or-Your-Money.pdf

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_________________________________________________________ WHO AM I: Vitaliy Katsenelson is the CEO of Investment Management Associates (IMA) and an award-winning writer. Forbes Magazine called him “The New Benjamin Graham.” His work has appeared in the Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, Fortune, Institutional Investor, and Foreign Policy. He is the author of three books, including Soul in the Game: The Art of a Meaningful Life. _________________________________________________________ Please read the following important disclosure: https://investor.fm/disclosure/

View IMA’s regulatory filings — including ADV Part 2A & 2B, Form CRS, firm brochure, conflicts of interest disclosures, sample quarterly letters, and privacy policy — at imausa.com.