Rogers and I have two things in common — we both have taught at Columbia Business School and we share the same birthday, Oct. 19. Thus, we are known as the “crash babies.”
Now he lives with his wife and two young children in Singapore, where they are learning Mandarin Chinese. He believes that just as the future belonged to the British in the 19th century and the Americans in the 20th century, so the Chinese will own the 21st century. But he still feels that the dollar is king and English is the language of international commerce. Yet he warns that the United States is in danger of being a Third World country in terms of infrastructure of education. The Asians are more advanced now than the United States (except in places like Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines).
Rogers is a generally a bear on the stock market and bullish on commodities, but he’s not invested in gold right now. He hopes to see it under $1,000 an ounce. But he did warn of another crisis coming in the “next two or three years.” The dollar will be the safe haven at that time, but in the long term he’s bearish on the dollar. China will have its share of crises, he said, just like America in the 19th century suffering from civil war and numerous panics. He’s keen on education.
My grandson asked Jim Rogers the question, “Do you recommend any small-cap stocks for small people?”
My Asian tour’s next stop is Hong Kong (where I will be having lunch with Richard Yong, a top economist at the University of Hong Kong), before going to Taiwan and Japan. I’ll have a follow-up report in the coming days.
Interesting fact: All of the Asian countries have been growing much faster than the United States since the 2008 financial crisis, but all of the emerging markets except one (Thailand) have underperformed the U.S. stock market. It just goes to show that Wall Street is not Main Street. In my newsletter, I’m not recommending any index funds in Asia, although that might change. Wall Street is where the action is.
At the end of his talk, I asked Rogers what the most important lesson was that he’s learned in life. He said, “Having children — they are more important than anything else you do in life, your career, your business, your friends.”
- Source, Townhall Finance
