A Gift to My Children
Also issued as A Gift to My Daughters.
Summary
Rogers wrote this short book as advice to his two young daughters, covering both life guidance and investment principles. It is brief and consists of short numbered lessons with brief elaboration.
The investment content restates positions from his other books: do your own research rather than accepting anyone's recommendation including his; buy what you understand from your own direct experience; if everyone agrees with a position, examine the opposite; markets move to extremes in both directions and the extremes are where the money is made; understand history because financial and political patterns repeat; and be prepared to do nothing for long periods, since the number of genuinely attractive opportunities in a lifetime is small.
The life guidance covers learning Mandarin, which he arranged for his daughters from birth; travelling widely and living abroad in order to see one's own country from outside; studying history and philosophy rather than business; developing independent judgement and being willing to hold unpopular views; and persistence.
The book takes an hour to read and contains nothing that Rogers has not said elsewhere at greater length. Its interest is the compression and the personal framing. It is not an investment book in any useful sense and offers no method. The reference has not verified the biographical details. Readers wanting Rogers' actual investment thinking should read Investment Biker or Hot Commodities.
Key takeaways 7
- An investor should act only on their own research, because acting on someone else's conviction means being unable to hold the position when it moves against you.
- If everyone agrees with a position, the opposite is worth examining seriously, since consensus is already reflected in the price.
- Markets move to extremes in both directions, and the returns are made by acting at the extremes rather than in the middle.
- Doing nothing for long periods is a legitimate and necessary investment activity, since genuinely attractive opportunities are rare.
- Studying history rather than business supplies the pattern recognition that markets require, because financial and political sequences repeat.
- Living outside your own country is the only way to see it accurately, and the perspective is directly useful in assessing investments.
- Learning to think independently is more valuable than any specific knowledge, since the situations you will face are not the ones you were taught about.
Who should read it
Readers wanting Rogers' principles compressed into an hour, though his longer books contain the same material with substance behind it.
About Jim Rogers
Co-founder, Quantum Fund 1973-1980; creator of the Rogers International Commodity Index
Long public commodities record plus Investment Biker and Hot Commodities, which outlasted their news cycles.
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