Jim Rogers
Encyclopedia
James Beeland Rogers, Jr. (born October 19, 1942) is an American investor
, author
, and occasional financial commentator. He is currently based in Singapore
. Rogers is the Chairman of Rogers Holdings and Beeland Interests, Inc. He was the co-founder of the Quantum Fund
with George Soros
and creator of the Rogers International Commodities Index (RICI)
.
Rogers is an outspoken proponent of the free market
, but he does not consider himself a member of any school of thought. Rogers acknowledged, however, that his views best fit the label of Austrian School
of economics.
, Alabama
. He started in business at the age of five by selling peanuts and by picking up empty bottles that fans left behind at baseball games. He got his first job on Wall Street
, at Dominick & Dominick
, after graduating with a bachelor's degree
from Yale University
in 1964. Rogers then acquired a second BA degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Balliol College, Oxford University in 1966.
. In 1973, Rogers co-founded the Quantum Fund
with George Soros. During the following 10 years, the portfolio gained 4200% while the S&P advanced about 47%. The Quantum Fund was one of the first truly international funds.
In 1980, Rogers decided to "retire", and spent some of his time traveling on a motorcycle around the world. Since then, he has been a guest professor of finance at the Columbia University Graduate School of Business.
In 1989 and 1990, Rogers was the moderator of WCBS
' The Dreyfus Roundtable and FNN
's The Profit Motive with Jim Rogers. From 1990 to 1992, he traveled through China again, as well as around the world, on motorcycle, over 100,000 miles (160,000 km) across six continents, which was picked up in the Guinness Book of World Records. He tells of his adventures and worldwide investments in Investment Biker, a bestselling investment book.
In 1998, Rogers founded the Rogers International Commodity Index
. In 2007, the index and its three sub-indices were linked to exchange-traded notes under the banner ELEMENTS. The notes track the total return of the indices as an accessible way to invest in the index. Rogers is an outspoken advocate of agriculture investments.
Between January 1, 1999 and January 5, 2002, Rogers did another Guinness World Record journey through 116 countries, covering 245,000 kilometers with his wife, Paige Parker, in a custom-made Mercedes. The trip began in Iceland
, which was about to celebrate the 1000th anniversary of Leif Eriksson's first trip to America. On January 5, 2002, they were back in New York City
and their home on Riverside Drive. His route around the world can be viewed on his website, jimrogers.com. He wrote Adventure Capitalist following this around-the-world adventure. It is currently his bestselling book.
' Cavuto on Business
which airs every Saturday. In 2005, Rogers wrote Hot Commodities: How Anyone Can Invest Profitably in the World's Best Market. In this book, Rogers quotes a Financial Analysts Journal academic paper co-authored by Yale School of Management
professor, Geert Rouwenhorst
, entitled Facts and Fantasies about Commodity Futures. Rogers contends this paper shows that commodities investment is one of the best investments over time, which is a concept somewhat at odds with conventional investment thinking.
In December 2007, Rogers sold his mansion in New York City for about 16 million USD and moved to Singapore
. Rogers claimed that he moved because now is a ground-breaking time for investment potential in Asian markets. Rogers's first daughter is now being tutored in Mandarin to prepare her for the future. He is quoted as saying: "If you were smart in 1807 you moved to London, if you were smart in 1907 you moved to New York City, and if you are smart in 2007 you move to Asia." In a CNBC interview with Maria Bartiromo
broadcast on May 5, 2008, Rogers said that people in China are extremely motivated and driven, and he wants to be in that type of environment, so his daughters are motivated and driven. He also stated that this is how America and Europe used to be. He chose not to move to Chinese cities like Hong Kong
or Shanghai
due to the high levels of pollution causing potential health problems for his family; hence, he chose Singapore. He has also advocated investing in certain smaller Asian frontier markets such as Sri Lanka
and Cambodia
, and currently serves as an Advisor to Leopard Capital’s Leopard Sri Lanka Fund. However, he is not fully bullish on all Asian nations, as he remains skeptical of India
's future - "India as we know it will not survive another 30 or 40 years".
In 2008 Rogers endorsed Ron Paul
for President of the United States.
Rogers has two daughters with Paige Parker. Hilton Augusta(nicknamed Happy) was born in 2003, and their second daughter Beeland Anderson in 2008. His latest book, A Gift To My Children, contains lessons in life for his daughters as well as investment advice and was published in 2009.
On November 4, 2010, at Oxford University’s Balliol College, he urged students to scrap career plans for Wall Street or the City, London’s financial district, and to study agriculture and mining instead. “The power is shifting again from the financial centers to the producers of real goods. The place to be is in commodities, raw materials, natural resources."
In February 2011 Rogers announced that he has started a new index fund which focuses on "the top companies in agriculture, mining, metals and energy sectors as well as those in the alternative energy space including solar, wind and hydro." The index is called The Rogers Global Resources Equity Index and according to Rogers, only the best and most liquid companies go into the index.
Articles
Interviews
Investor
An investor is a party that makes an investment into one or more categories of assets --- equity, debt securities, real estate, currency, commodity, derivatives such as put and call options, etc...
, author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
, and occasional financial commentator. He is currently based in Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
. Rogers is the Chairman of Rogers Holdings and Beeland Interests, Inc. He was the co-founder of the Quantum Fund
Quantum Group of Funds
The Quantum Group of Funds are privately owned hedge funds based in Curaçao and Cayman Islands. They are currently advised by George Soros through his company Soros Fund Management. Soros started the fund in the early 1970s along with Jim Rogers...
with George Soros
George Soros
George Soros is a Hungarian-American business magnate, investor, philosopher, and philanthropist. He is the chairman of Soros Fund Management. Soros supports progressive-liberal causes...
and creator of the Rogers International Commodities Index (RICI)
Rogers International Commodity Index
The Rogers International Commodity Index is a composite, USD based, total return index, designed by Jim Rogers in 1996/1997. The first fund began on July 31, 1998....
.
Rogers is an outspoken proponent of the free market
Free market
A free market is a competitive market where prices are determined by supply and demand. However, the term is also commonly used for markets in which economic intervention and regulation by the state is limited to tax collection, and enforcement of private ownership and contracts...
, but he does not consider himself a member of any school of thought. Rogers acknowledged, however, that his views best fit the label of Austrian School
Austrian School
The Austrian School of economics is a heterodox school of economic thought. It advocates methodological individualism in interpreting economic developments , the theory that money is non-neutral, the theory that the capital structure of economies consists of heterogeneous goods that have...
of economics.
Early life and education
Rogers was born in Baltimore, Maryland and raised in DemopolisDemopolis, Alabama
Demopolis is the largest city in Marengo County, Alabama, United States. The population was 7,483 at the time of the 2010 United States Census....
, Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
. He started in business at the age of five by selling peanuts and by picking up empty bottles that fans left behind at baseball games. He got his first job on Wall Street
Wall Street
Wall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or...
, at Dominick & Dominick
Dominick & Dominick LLC
Dominick & Dominick LLC , formerly Dominick & Dominick Inc., is one of the oldest, privately held investment firms in the United States. It was one of the original members of the New York Stock Exchange, with an original founder serving as a president. The firm was the syndicate head for General...
, after graduating with a bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
from Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
in 1964. Rogers then acquired a second BA degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Balliol College, Oxford University in 1966.
(1970-2002)
In 1970, Rogers joined Arnhold and S. BleichroderArnhold and S. Bleichroder
Arnhold and S. Bleichroeder was a New York-based investment bank that remains as a fund management company under the control of the Arnhold family. The core constituent was of a merger between the banking firm of S...
. In 1973, Rogers co-founded the Quantum Fund
Quantum Group of Funds
The Quantum Group of Funds are privately owned hedge funds based in Curaçao and Cayman Islands. They are currently advised by George Soros through his company Soros Fund Management. Soros started the fund in the early 1970s along with Jim Rogers...
with George Soros. During the following 10 years, the portfolio gained 4200% while the S&P advanced about 47%. The Quantum Fund was one of the first truly international funds.
In 1980, Rogers decided to "retire", and spent some of his time traveling on a motorcycle around the world. Since then, he has been a guest professor of finance at the Columbia University Graduate School of Business.
In 1989 and 1990, Rogers was the moderator of WCBS
WCBS-TV
WCBS-TV, channel 2, is the flagship station of the CBS television network, located in New York City. The station's studios are located within the CBS Broadcast Center and its transmitter is atop the Empire State Building, both in Midtown Manhattan....
' The Dreyfus Roundtable and FNN
Financial News Network
The Financial News Network was a television network that operated throughout the United States during the 1980s.-Founding:Financial News Network was founded in 1981 by two men: Rodney Buchser, who had been general manager of KWHY, Channel 22 in Los Angeles and Glenn Taylor. The concept originated...
's The Profit Motive with Jim Rogers. From 1990 to 1992, he traveled through China again, as well as around the world, on motorcycle, over 100,000 miles (160,000 km) across six continents, which was picked up in the Guinness Book of World Records. He tells of his adventures and worldwide investments in Investment Biker, a bestselling investment book.
In 1998, Rogers founded the Rogers International Commodity Index
Rogers International Commodity Index
The Rogers International Commodity Index is a composite, USD based, total return index, designed by Jim Rogers in 1996/1997. The first fund began on July 31, 1998....
. In 2007, the index and its three sub-indices were linked to exchange-traded notes under the banner ELEMENTS. The notes track the total return of the indices as an accessible way to invest in the index. Rogers is an outspoken advocate of agriculture investments.
Between January 1, 1999 and January 5, 2002, Rogers did another Guinness World Record journey through 116 countries, covering 245,000 kilometers with his wife, Paige Parker, in a custom-made Mercedes. The trip began in Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
, which was about to celebrate the 1000th anniversary of Leif Eriksson's first trip to America. On January 5, 2002, they were back in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and their home on Riverside Drive. His route around the world can be viewed on his website, jimrogers.com. He wrote Adventure Capitalist following this around-the-world adventure. It is currently his bestselling book.
(2002 to present)
On his return in 2002, Rogers became a regular guest on Fox NewsFox News Channel
Fox News Channel , often called Fox News, is a cable and satellite television news channel owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of News Corporation...
' Cavuto on Business
Cavuto on Business
Cavuto on Business is an American business analysis program, the second show of the Cost of Freedom business block, on Saturdays at 10:30am ET on the Fox News Channel...
which airs every Saturday. In 2005, Rogers wrote Hot Commodities: How Anyone Can Invest Profitably in the World's Best Market. In this book, Rogers quotes a Financial Analysts Journal academic paper co-authored by Yale School of Management
Yale School of Management
The Yale School of Management is the graduate business school of Yale University and is located on Hillhouse Avenue in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. The School offers Master of Business Administration and Ph.D. degree programs. As of January 2011, 454 students were enrolled in its MBA...
professor, Geert Rouwenhorst
Geert Rouwenhorst
K. Geert Rouwenhorst is a Professor at Yale School of Management and Deputy Director for International Financial Center at Yale. He is also a partner at SummerHaven Investment management. His work has traced the history of mutual funds through 18th century Netherlands...
, entitled Facts and Fantasies about Commodity Futures. Rogers contends this paper shows that commodities investment is one of the best investments over time, which is a concept somewhat at odds with conventional investment thinking.
In December 2007, Rogers sold his mansion in New York City for about 16 million USD and moved to Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
. Rogers claimed that he moved because now is a ground-breaking time for investment potential in Asian markets. Rogers's first daughter is now being tutored in Mandarin to prepare her for the future. He is quoted as saying: "If you were smart in 1807 you moved to London, if you were smart in 1907 you moved to New York City, and if you are smart in 2007 you move to Asia." In a CNBC interview with Maria Bartiromo
Maria Bartiromo
Maria Bartiromo is an American television journalist, magazine columnist and author of three books. Bartiromo is a native of New York and attended New York University. She worked at CNN for five years before joining CNBC television...
broadcast on May 5, 2008, Rogers said that people in China are extremely motivated and driven, and he wants to be in that type of environment, so his daughters are motivated and driven. He also stated that this is how America and Europe used to be. He chose not to move to Chinese cities like Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
or Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
due to the high levels of pollution causing potential health problems for his family; hence, he chose Singapore. He has also advocated investing in certain smaller Asian frontier markets such as Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
and Cambodia
Cambodia
Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
, and currently serves as an Advisor to Leopard Capital’s Leopard Sri Lanka Fund. However, he is not fully bullish on all Asian nations, as he remains skeptical of India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
's future - "India as we know it will not survive another 30 or 40 years".
In 2008 Rogers endorsed Ron Paul
Ron Paul
Ronald Ernest "Ron" Paul is an American physician, author and United States Congressman who is seeking to be the Republican Party candidate in the 2012 presidential election. Paul represents Texas's 14th congressional district, which covers an area south and southwest of Houston that includes...
for President of the United States.
Rogers has two daughters with Paige Parker. Hilton Augusta(nicknamed Happy) was born in 2003, and their second daughter Beeland Anderson in 2008. His latest book, A Gift To My Children, contains lessons in life for his daughters as well as investment advice and was published in 2009.
On November 4, 2010, at Oxford University’s Balliol College, he urged students to scrap career plans for Wall Street or the City, London’s financial district, and to study agriculture and mining instead. “The power is shifting again from the financial centers to the producers of real goods. The place to be is in commodities, raw materials, natural resources."
In February 2011 Rogers announced that he has started a new index fund which focuses on "the top companies in agriculture, mining, metals and energy sectors as well as those in the alternative energy space including solar, wind and hydro." The index is called The Rogers Global Resources Equity Index and according to Rogers, only the best and most liquid companies go into the index.
External links
- The Millennium Adventure, Official Jim Rogers website
- The Rogers International Commodity Index A site for information on the RICI
Articles
- "An Early Christmas for Jim Rogers". - BusinessWeek - December 8, 2004.
- "Invest In Commodities – and Keep Your Shirt". - November 23, 2006.
- "We Want Our Kids To Learn Chinese". - MySinchew. - July 19, 2008. - (article about Rogers' life in Singapore)
- "Adventure Capitalist". - PODER Magazine. - April 2010.
Interviews
- Curated Interview With Jim Rogers From Market Wizards
- Jim Rogers on the British Pound, US Dollar, And China
- Jim Rogers, The Adventure Capitalist
- Jim Rogers and George Soros Started the Quantum Fund
- rediff.com: The Money Interview/Jim Rogers, investor, globetrotter
- Financial Sense Newshour's Ask The Expert: Jim Rogers:
- Riverside Conversations: a 3 Part TV Series with Marc Faber
- SCMP video interview, September 8, 2008.
- Investors Chronicle interview. - (on the decline of the US/Europe, emerging markets, commodities). - November 2008.
- Bloomberg Night Talk interview. - November 24, 2008.
- Jim Rogers on The Lew Rockwell Show:
- "The Crash of '08". - December 12, 2008. - (*.MP3 audio)
- "Economic Advice to My Children (and You)". - May 17, 2009. - (*.MP3 audio)
- Bloomberg TV Jim Rogers Special. - December 24, 2008.
- TIMETime (magazine)Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
Q&A: Jim Rogers: - Interview from March 2009 on Channel 4Channel 4Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
- Jim Rogers Sat 3 Interview German TV Sat 3