The investor's situation, I believe, is very much different from the common person's. The investor put him or herself in the position of doing tons and tons of financial transactions and investments, etc, like that. He or she put him or herself in a situation such that EV-reasoning makes sense. It seems to be that this isn't the situation for the common person.
But I agree... If you are an investor, or maybe a professional poker player, then you'd have put yourself in a position that favors reasoning guided by EV.
There are other ones as well, non-money related. For example, in sports. I believe basketball players probably try to do this. There are so many shots. They're probably using EV to guide their strategy and practice.
Five Thirty Eight writes about this from time to time. Three points shots in basketball. Going for it on fourth down. Going for a two point conversion. You can work out the stats for all this sort of thing--and there are apparently biases for various reasons why coaches/players don't always follow the EV strategy.
But I agree... If you are an investor, or maybe a professional poker player, then you'd have put yourself in a position that favors reasoning guided by EV.
There are other ones as well, non-money related. For example, in sports. I believe basketball players probably try to do this. There are so many shots. They're probably using EV to guide their strategy and practice.