Articles
You Don’t Need to Be an Expert to Hire One. You Need a Tunaman.
I interview corporate executives for a living. I have spent nearly three decades analyzing businesses and managing other people's savings. And yet, when my wife and I decided to remodel our house, I felt completely naked.
Most People Don’t Want to Write. They Want to Have Written.
I was at a conference in Switzerland. A reader came up to me and asked, "Vitaliy, I've been reading your articles for years. I'd like to write. How should I start?"
You are not as smart as you think you are – Update 2026
In a bull market, it is easy to forget about selling discipline and then turn into a "buy and forget to sell" investor. Every time you sell a stock, you look dumb because it usually goes up afterward.
Guy Spier and I
Reflections on friendship, mortality, and the kindness of Guy Spier, the value investor who taught me that we all live on borrowed time.
This Is Your Captain Speaking – Buckle Up
I have been feeling very uneasy about the market and the economy. Over the last two decades our economy has been acclimated to insanely low interest rates, and reacclimation to higher and rising rates is going to be difficult.
Fiddler on the Roof and Value Investing
My subconscious melded Fiddler on the Roof with the lecture from a few days earlier, and I ended up writing a chapter about the Jewish farmer Tevye buying a cow, Golde (which he named after his first wife).
What to Do When a Stock Drops 25%
Stock XYZ has declined 25%. What do you think? Is your thesis broken? What you observe in stock price volatility is mostly noise. A good chunk of buyers and sellers don’t know much about what they are trading other than the ticker.
Greg Abel Takes Over Berkshire Hathaway: My Thoughts After Omaha 2026
Last year I came out of the BRK annual meeting thinking that Greg Abel was not the right person to run Berkshire Hathaway. Abel lacked Buffett's charisma, warmth, and humor. Greg Abel was not Buffett, and he definitely was not Munger. I was wrong.
What the Iran War Reveals About the Dollar, Gold, and the End of US Exceptionalism
The Iran war exposes a quiet rewriting of the rules that made the US exceptional. Why we own oil, why we hate owning gold, and why crypto still isn't for client accounts.
Q&A Series: On Firing Clients, Sizing Positions, and Ignoring Book Value
At IMA, we deal with prospective clients who have a short-term time horizon very differently. We do what I call "reverse marketing." I write articles, people read them, and when they get interested in our services, they download our brochure and reach out to us.
Q&A: The Antifragile Investor: Balancing Geopolitics, Identity, and the Cost of Growth
There is an unspoken conflict between Americans and Europeans. Europeans accuse Americans of being stuck in the rat race. Americans look at Europeans, see them sipping their espressos for two hours a day and reading newspapers, and call them lazy.
Uber and Self-Driving Cars: The Utilization Problem Nobody Talks About
I took a Waymo with my colleague Cyrus. We were genuinely impressed. It was a seamless experience. Uber is dead, long live Waymo? Not So Fast.
What AI, Tariffs, and Global Uncertainty Mean for Your Portfolio
The future feels less predictable because the range of possible outcomes has expanded. Here is my best attempt to think through that reality with humility, and why you should let me do the worrying for both of us.
When to sell a stock: The Art and Psychology of Selling
Investing is a lot more art than science. I bring a scientist's mindset – I approach problems with an open mind and I am willing to change my mind when data proves me wrong.
On AI Eating The World
Instead of joining the chorus of false certainty, let me offer you a crayon-level framework for thinking about it. I am going for vaguely right, not precisely wrong.
10 Life Lessons I Passed On to My Daughter on Her Bat Mitzvah
On January 11, 2026, my younger daughter, Mia Sarah, celebrated becoming an adult, at least according to Jewish tradition (she turned 12). This is what I told her
Q&A: From Imposter Syndrome to Authenticity
I let myself be me when I write. I just made it sound easy. It is not. It comes down to confidence. It took me a long time – years, to get comfortable with being me on paper.
The Church of Climate and the Law of Unintended Consequences
When policies are judged by intentions rather than outcomes, you get Germany closing nuclear plants only to burn more coal.
Q&A Money Should Buy Time, Not Things
As my income went up, instead of buying myself things, I turned to buying time and experiences.
Our Sistine Chapel: Long-Term Investing in Quality and Kindness
Warren Buffett calls Berkshire Hathaway his Sistine Chapel. This analogy haunted me for years until I realized we are building the exact same thing at IMA. It took me a decade to put into words, but I finally narrowed our firm’s entire reason for existence down to just two words. They sound simple, but living up to them is the hardest thing we’ve ever done.
Living and Investing with Intention
As an investor, being intentional about identifying assumptions is extremely important. When you're mindless, you accept things as they are without realizing you're walking on thin ice while everyone else thinks it's solid ground.
