The Hindu Business Line : Investment Nuggets

James (Jim) Beeland Rogers is one of the most celebrated American investor and financial commentator. He is the co-founder of the Quantum Fund, a guest professor at the Columbia University, author, world traveller and creator of the Rogers International Commodities Index. The Roger International commodity index, known as the best diversified commodity index, has risen by 406.3 per cent since its inception in 1998 . Rogers is a top down investor who bets on countries or industries. He foresees demand from abroad and buys early before others know the mechanics of investing in those countries. He is the author of Investment Biker, Hot Commodities, Adventure Capitalist and A Bull in China. His investment philosophy:

You have to be right as well as different: Contrarian. The market is nearly always wrong.

Don’t lose money. If you don’t know the facts, don’t play. I just wait until there is money around the corner, and all I have to do is go over there and pick it up. I do nothing in the meantime.

When you run out of money, look at the portfolio and push out whatever appears to be least attractive item at that point.

A few investment thoughts from the great investor:

“One of the best rules anybody can learn about investing is to do nothing, absolutely nothing, unless there is something to do. Wait for something to come along, then take profit, put the money back into the money market fund and wait for the next thing.”

“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.”

“China is the next greatest country whether we like it or not. If twentieth century was the American century, then the twenty first century belongs to China. China’s economic boom is the biggest since the England’s Industrial Revolution. I’ve sold out of every (other) emerging market in the world. I’m investing in China, because China in my view is the next great country in the world.

“One can say that inefficiencies in China are promoting demand. However, as China becomes more efficient there will be an increase in demand and the commodities supply will not be there. So commodities will be the market to be in.”

“Everybody’s driving the commodities boom because demand everywhere is going up: In the US, Europe, everywhere. Supply is under terrible stress.”

“The basic skills of math, English and writing are not enough, you must develop a basic system of values to form and guide the use of these skills. The true test will not be what you learned in college, but how you used what you learned.”

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