Money With Legs

“For those consumed by the passion to see it all and fathom the world as it really is” – thus begins the book, Investment Biker, on Jim Rogers’ unique adventure around the world on his bike; the words lay bare the motivations of a man who’s known to have loved risks enough to get them to love him back. At an age when most have resigned to the ennui in their careers, and hoping for life to be peaceful at best, Jim decided to retire at 37 and embark on a dream journey – experience the world first-hand, and understand the present and future economies worldwide.

Popularly known as the Indiana Jones of Finance, Jim Rogers started his career at Wall Street, where he was intrigued by the stock market. He went on to be an iconic name in investment and co-founded Quantum Funds, one of the first truly international funds. His unique selling proposition of converging travel and investment continues to have an immense fan following.

Jim’s been around the world not once, but twice. His first journey was on a BMW bike. “I love riding, so I thought I would see the world on a motorcycle,” he says. The second journey was a decade later, on a Mercedes Benz sports car. His motive for the second trip? “It was the turn of the millennium, and nobody had been around the world at the turn of the millennium before. So I thought I would go.”

Going around the world is not as easy as it sounds. There is a lot of preparation that goes into it before you can set upon something like that – from getting all the documents and visas and international permits in order, to getting vaccinations and shots, to packing just right, to planning out a route, to getting your vehicle revamped to suit the rough terrains, and much more. But once all that is done, the journey can be exhilarating, evidently. As Jim moved from one country to another, he had the opportunity to witness some of the most beautiful sights around the world. The sand dunes of the Sahara, manmade and natural marvels of India, exotic belly dancing (“the most spectacular belly dancers I have ever seen”) at Baku, Chinese Taoist monastery where the priests were conducting a ceremony for rain… Jim realised that life is more than meets the eye, and every country has its own special attractions and mysteries.

Jim’s trip, however, was not just another touristy tale; he was an investor after all. During the journey, he stayed alert to the rhythms of the economies and made note of investment opportunities. While reminded of an opera at a teahouse in China he describes as “very dramatic, very elaborate, heart-rending and fraught with tragedy”, he also speaks of the collapse of the rug industry following the fall of Communism in the 1990s, and refers to China as the “international stronghold of Godless communism” in Adventure Capitalist, his second book.

Speaking of India, he says, “It is one of my favourite places to visit since it is a constant sensory feast. No country in the world has a breadth and depth of culture, man-made sites, natural sites, foods, religions, languages, attractive and smart men and women, etc. like India.” Not to discount the problems faced here of course, including but not limited to out-of-range cellphones and water shortage. One incident that stands out is the hassle he went through at the Manipur border. The officials stopped him saying, “You cannot leave, because you do not have permission to be in Manipur”, while geographically Jim was already outside the state! It was illogical on the part of the official, but this continued for sometime till a phone call was made to the supervisor, and only then was Jim let off the hook.

There were other times when borders were closed, his bike broke down, and so on. Another incident he calls from memory was at Zaire in Africa, where he was held hostage for 9 whole days, all because he refused to oblige extortionist officials. But perhaps the worst border case was at Nigeria, where the guard smugly told Jim, “Well, you’re American, so I’m going to treat you the way I’d be treated at Kennedy Airport. I’m going to frisk you completely, because that’s what you do to us at Kennedy.” He then checked every single document, and every single piece of the luggage in the hope of finding something out of place.

Having visited many a destination, Singapore was his choice to stay back in. On his choice of what he calls the ‘Venice/Florence of Digital Age’ to call home, he says, “Singapore has great education and healthcare, and I wanted my children to be fluent in Mandarin”; the Chinese cities are too polluted.

In the Adventure Capitalist, towards the end of the trip, he writes, “This trip has been the most enormous event of my life, and now that we are nearing its end, several emotions surged through me. I was having a hard time wrestling with the grim reality that the trip was nearly over. I ached for it to last longer, and at the same time I was pleased that it looked as if it would be successful.” The trip was definitely successful, at all levels; in terms of investment, he realised that “societies become rich, swagger around for a few years, decades, or centuries, and then their hour is done”. More importantly, “even when the wealth is gone, life goes on.” Settled in Singapore with his beloved wife Paige and two adorable little girls, Jim’s does, and more.

sneha.theeng@planmanmedia.com