A Gift to My Children: A Father’s Lessons for Life and InvestingAuthor: Jim Rogers
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
JIM Rogers is the co-founder together with George Soros of the famous Quantum Fund, which gave gargantuan returns to its investors.
According to the author’s notes, Quantum grew an astounding 42 times in the seventies, compared to a mere 47% for the S&P 500 which tracks the broad US market.
It made Rogers (and Soros) a millionaire many times over and enabled him to retire at the tender age of 37.
It also enabled him to make a fabled motorcycle trip of many thousands of kilometres across six continents, bringing him closer to the peoples of the many lands he visited and letting him form a better picture of the investment potential of countries around the globe.
Rogers followed that up with another overland trip in a specially designed car taking him and his wife through 116 countries (and 15 civil wars) and a journey of over 150,000 miles.
When you are a maverick celebrity investor and an outspoken commentator who has a proven track record, people stop and listen when you speak and they do read when you write.
And that’s what has happened with Rogers, a best selling author of somewhat offbeat investment books.
Two of those books included travel as well, chronicling his two major odysseys –
Investment Biker (1994), and
Adventure Capitalist (2003).
I was intrigued by the title of the latest book,
A Gift to My Children: A Father’s Lessons for Life and Investing, and wondered what it was that Rogers would want to leave his kids.
Most assuredly, their worldly requirements would be taken care of so what is it that he will leave his kids in a book?
The other thing that I was curious about is that the book was thin – a mere 86 pages – as befits books for children. I have found that slim books often say more than fat ones much more quickly and gravitated to it.
One thing for sure, Rogers is not a conventional man, although much of the advice that he dispenses in the book is, well common sense, which Rogers describes as “not so common”.
Sample: Question everything, never follow the crowd, and beware of boys (yes, both his children are girls). One more: The quickest way to success is to do what you like and give it your best.
But let me take issue with him over a couple of things. He had his first child at the age of 61 in 2003 (what took him so long, considering he retired at the age of 37?) And he had his second in 2008, at the age of 66.
No, I am not questioning him over his wisdom of having children that late in life because a lot of things can account for that.
But really to name your first child Happy and the next one Baby Bee, is rather, shall we say, imprudent. That could give the poor kids some serious headaches in future.
(Note: Finance and statistical theory suggest that to a get a return of 42 times in a decade or less means you would have to be less than prudent – that is you have to take excessive risks. No major risk, no major gain.)
It’s good to see that he emphasises being ethical. “...You must respect and follow the rules, laws and ethical practices without which society cannot exist. This is expected of everyone,” he says.
But turn the page over and this is what he has to say about his ex-wife: “I was once married to a woman who was always nagging me to buy a new sofa, a new TV and so on. I’d explain that if we saved and invested wisely, one day we could afford ten sofas or whatever. Needless to say, we did not stay married long, and now I am lucky to have your mother, who shares the same attitude towards personal finances.”
That’s a rather cheap shot and really was quite unnecessary as a public lesson on thrift. And does he expect his children (and us) to believe that the marriage broke down only because he and his ex-wife did not see eye-to-eye on personal finances?
Good ethics dictate that he should have kept his personal differences, well, personal, instead of making it so public.
But perhaps I am nitpicking. Overall, the book is a novel effort at giving younger people – and even some adults – some pretty good, down-to-earth advice on life and investing, as the subhead of the book indicates.
On top of that, it gives some valuable insights into the workings of the mind of one of our better-known and more successful investors, revealing the thought processes and methods, in broad strokes, that went into the eventual investment decision.
There are nuggets of wisdom. Example: What is happening now has happened before and will happen again. He said this when explaining why you need to become a student of history.
It’s a book about the big picture, the sweeping strategies and philosophies. It is that much more attractive and eminently readable because of that.
And it makes you want to read Rogers’ other books, which I might, especially the ones on his travels.
Marriage woes: Chong (right) and Tan holding up the wedding photos and marriage certificate at the press conference in Kuala Lumpur
