Reflections on the Meaning of Investing in Life from a Respected Investor

Condolences to Vitaliy Katsenelson, CFA, author of The Intellectual Investor, and a student of life. His father, Naum Katsenelson, recently passed away.

Every month or so, I receive an email from Vitaliy Katsenelson on some aspect of investing. I look forward to the emails for his thoughts, but also for fabulous impressionistic images by his father that accompanies every post.

There was a delay on his last newsletter and the title of his post, a tribute to his father, hints of the sad news within.

My Father — A Life Worth Living

Please consider My Father — A Life Worth Living by Vitaliy Katsenelson.

Here is a set of short snips, from beginning and the middle, but I encourage you to read the whole article.

My father, Naum Katsenelson, passed away on August 10, 2023.

I spent weeks trying to write about my father, but I failed miserably. As a writer, I have learned that there is no such thing as writer’s block; either your idea is not fully developed and ready to come out, or there is a conflict between what you want to say and what appears on your pages. In this case, it was the latter. I realized I wanted to talk about him, but I kept coming back to myself. No one has had a greater impact on who I am today than my father. My mother, who dedicated her short life to her family, passed away when I was 11. Since then, my father has been both a mother and a father to me. ……

Soul in the game

When we moved to the US, my father went from one passion to another, from science to art. To his own surprise, I think, he became a full-time artist and an art teacher. Despite living a modest life, he did not take much money for these lessons. That did not feel right to him. He taught out of love for teaching. The size of his classroom was constrained by the square footage of his basement, but those few lucky kids who were in his class are much better people today because he poured his soul into them.

He didn’t just teach them how to hold a pencil or mix colors. He would spend half of his art lessons studying the paintings of the greats. I thought he did this to teach them how to paint. Today I realize that, while this was part of it, there was another, more important reason: He wanted to teach them to see the world through the lens of art. We are surrounded by beauty everywhere and just need to open our eyes to it. Looking at art makes us pause, study the painting, and search for the beauty. It is a mindful act where we let our imaginations range. This is a muscle that atrophies if we don’t train and develop it.

My son Jonah said at my father’s funeral, “My grandpa would pick me up from school, bringing cheese sandwiches. We’d go to the park and sit on the bench for hours. He’d tell me to look at the people around me and think about what their lives are like, what they are going through as people. We would sit and talk about the people walking by. We’d go to art museums and look at paintings. He’d look at a painting and say, ‘How does this person in the painting feel? Are they happy? Are they sad? What was their life like?’ And we’d talk about it.”

I can see the impact of these lessons in the behavior of my kids. To this day, when we are walking in the park or sitting in a café, they tell me, “Dad, look at how the light reflects off this surface” or “See how this shadow creates contrast and illuminates this…” That is my father’s investment bearing fruit.

What is truly remarkable about art and my father subtly introducing it into the lives of his students (including me) is that he changed how we experience the world. We are all given just so many minutes in this life. We can experience the world in shades of grey that we see beneath our feet, or in full vibrant colors if we open our eyes to beauty — it is entirely up to us. 

The Joys of Sharing

If you wish to understand the joy of sharing, please watch the above video. My favorite part is at the end.

From Katsenelson’s Website

Vitaliy Katsenelson is the CEO at IMA, a value investing firm in Denver. He has written two books on investing, which were published by John Wiley & Sons and have been translated into eight languages. Soul in the Game: The Art of a Meaningful Life (Harriman House, 2022) is his first non-investing book.

I received an advance copy of Soul in the Game from Vitaliy, seeking comments.

My review of his book, in December of 2022, contained my number one investment idea for 2023, and in retrospect any year.

My Number One Investment Idea

My top investment idea for 2023 was Invest In Yourself.

Vitaliy sent me an advance copy with a message to me that he had never written a non-investment book before. 

After reading the book I told Vitaliy that he was mistaken. His book was very much about investing, investing in life. 

Please read the book. You will enjoy it and learn something from it.

My Number One Investment Idea for 2023

Invest in yourself, your family, and your friends. Invest in life. If you need to lose weight, do it.

Spend more quality time with your friends, family, and loved ones. 

Get out of the echo chamber. I lost a lot of readers these past two years because I criticized things Trump did or said. I lost more when I criticized Biden. 

But if all you are doing is seeking out your own opinion, stop seeking, you already have it. 

Entertain the other side. If you have grudges, they won’t do you any good, so let them go. 

Invest in life. 

I wish I had met Naum Katsenelson. I enjoy his art and think he would have enjoyed mine.