Analyzing Investment Process

Learn how to get past a manager's narrative and find the real process

Understanding a manager's investment process is a critical part of manager selection.

It is also hard.  Most descriptions of process offered by managers are at best vague, aspirational
indications of a desired state rather than how things really happen.

This short course is an excerpt from Advanced Due Diligence and Manager Selection, which provides comprehensive training in the qualitative analysis of investment managers.

(If you decide to enroll in the full course later, the cost of this module will be credited to you.)

Content

To provide context, the course opens with an introductory section that includes an explanation of concepts that are used throughout the main course, plus an ebook on mental models.

Following that is the process module, which includes a presentation about core ideas in the evaluation of investment process, four ebooks that delve more deeply into those ideas, and a couple of exercises.
There are more than thirty links to helpful outside sources that provide even more detail.

Among the things you'll learn

The five levels of qualitative process analysis.

How to use (and not use) investment process diagrams.

Why "consistent and repeatable" is a destructive illusion.

Four capabilities that provide the foundation for good process.

The benefits of process attribution (which is different from performance attribution).

How to use questions to dig into a process rather than focusing on specific investment ideas.

Four elements that are foundations for investment process.

More information

To learn more about the complete course (and the "course plus coaching" option) visit that course page.


A summary of the range of due diligence resources from The Investment Ecosystem is here.

There is good selection of postings on due diligence on the main site.  (Sign up for emails.)


Email us for more information on any of this, or schedule a phone call or Zoom session.

Meet the instructor

Tom Brakke, CFA

Consultant, author, and creator of
The Investment Ecosystem.

Tom has held investment and leadership positions at a major investment firm, and evaluated and/or provided consulting and advisory services to asset managers, institutional asset owners, advisory firms, consultants, and research firms.

As an instructor, he has trained candidates for the CFA exam and MBA students at a large university, as well as leading public and in-house workshops for investment professionals.  Tom writes extensively about the investment world and has spoken at many industry meetings and conferences.