Jim Rogers, the co-founder of the Quantum Fund and long-term specialist in agricultural commodities, joined Liquid Investments as a Keynote Speaker and Chief Guest at their Plantation Tour and Primal Investing Summit 2014.
Joined by a selection of business leaders, academics and the Liquid team, Jim Rogers reaffirmed his passion for agricultural investments and explained how it will be the producers and providers of capital who will reap the rewards of rising demand for food and food-related products.
The world is consuming more than it is producing. And what we eat is costing more – the United Nations (UN) reported food prices have doubled in the last decade. The UN predicts that the world population will be somewhere between 9.6 billion and 12.3 billion by the end of the century. By 2100, there will be an estimated 5.3 billion extra mouths to feed.
“Supply and demand for agriculture is out of whack,” Jim Rogers said.
“Brazil”, he noted, “has plenty of water, plenty of rich soil, it has got huge natural resources, so of course the country is going to continue to be a supplier of agricultural products and probably more in the future than now”.
Touring Liquid Investments’ Coconut and Neemplantations in Brazil, Mr. Rogers commended the owners for having the “foresight to see the great opportunity that agriculture presents."
Since the economic collapse a few years ago, the primary policy initiative for the Federal Reserve and central banks all over the world has been to print, reduce interest rates to near zero and provide cheap money to stock markets. It’s a recipe for disaster, says many contrarian investors and Fed critics, including Jim Rogers, chairman of Rogers Holdings and author of “Hot Commodities.”
Speaking in an interview with Reuters, Rogers warned that the astronomical amount of printing will lead to a lot of pain for everyone. He added that when the printing finally ceases then we will see the true results of the central banks’ monetary policy: destruction.
“The central banks have been printing staggering amounts of artificial liquidity. It’s going to come to an end. I don’t know if it’s coming to an end now. When it does end, we’re all going to pay a terrible price,” said Rogers.
Rogers went onto purport that the markets would eventually drop between 10 and 20 percent, leading the central banks to once again ramp up the printing press. This would allow the markets to experience a boost and produce another series of bubbles.
The United States dollar won’t have much long-term strength, says Rogers, who noted that he does own it because in times of turmoil investors seek out the greenback as a safe haven from all of the chaos. “It’s not actually a safe haven, but they think it is.”
Rogers has been lambasting the Fed, European Central Bank (ECB) and other central banks for a few years now. He has regularly criticized their actions because he, much like his comments here have depicted, understands this type of inflation and easing will generate vast unpleasantness, particularly for the U.S.
Fed Chair Janet Yellen is expected to finally take the punch bowl awayduring this week’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting. This year, the U.S. central bank has tapered its third round of quantitative easing, but some expect the Fed to introduce a fourth edition of QE because the markets have been staggering in recent weeks, likely due to the paucity of cheap money and monthly injections.
"Make sure your children and grandchildren speak Mandarin," legendary investor Jim Rogers told the crowd.
We were in the Dominican Republic... At the annual Stansberry Research Alliance Conference. Jim spoke avidly about China, as he has for years...
"The 19th century was England's. The 20th Century was the United States'. And the 21st century will be China's."
Jim expects China to dominate the global economy this century. And that makes speaking Mandarin a valuable skill. Jim's two young children are white, live in Singapore, and speak perfect Mandarin.
He's eating his own cooking, you might say.
Now, if you haven't heard of Jim Rogers, he's a true investment icon...
He worked alongside George Soros in the 1970s, running the Quantum Fund – one of the first hedge funds. To say they were successful would be a ridiculous understatement.
From 1970-1980, the Quantum Fund returned 4,200%... That's around 46% a year. The S&P 500 returned just 47% during the same period.
That brings us to China...
You see, Rogers believes his success came from finding what he knew would be successful in investing. Making a few big bets that would certainly pay off instead of many small bets.
In the most extreme case, you could make one investment every 10 years... a once-a-decade portfolio.
Jim explained this idea in his fantastic book, Street Smarts: Adventures on the Road and in the Markets. He wrote...
"If in 1970 you had bought commodities and held them for ten years, and in 1980 you sold your commodities and bought Japanese stocks, and then in 1990 you sold your Japanese stocks and bought technology stocks, and then sold those in 2000, you would be fabulously rich now."
Of course, this once-a-decade portfolio led to incredible returns. But it's easy to find returns in the rear-view mirror. That's not Jim's point. His point is this...
If you could only make 25 investments in your lifetime, you'd be a lot pickier about what you buy. You'd only buy things you were sure would work out. And you could likely beat the market buy making one investment a decade...
While Jim didn't come right out and say it, it's obvious he'd "buy" China today if he could only make one investment.
He's bullish on China for a few reasons... He believes China's low valuation is a key to long-term gains. He also loves to see the Chinese government pushing citizens into stocks (something Steve Sjuggerud wrote about in a recent DailyWealth).
Sure, there's likely to be ups and downs along the way. But he expects China to be the dominant economy of the 21st century. And with its stock market priced around half that of the U.S., he's interested.
Jim believes you can get rich by making one decision a decade. And today, China is at the top of his list for the once-a-decade portfolio.
We recommend making the trade with the DB X-trackers Harvest CSI 300 China A-Shares Fund (ASHR). This fund invests in local Chinese companies. And it's one of the best ways I know of to buy China today.
If you don't have money in China today, one of the world's best investors thinks you're making a mistake. Consider putting money to work in ASHR today.
Jim Rogers 2015 Predicition - Russia, Us Equities And Commodities & Middle East.
Goldco Precious Metals recently interviewed noted billionaire Jim Rogers and spoke to him about investing in gold & silver, and the imminent collapse of the economy and the dollar.
