A: I do know that the world has serious currency needs and serious currency problems. The U.S. dollar has dominated the world for the past 70 to 80 years. Somebody is going to stop using the dollar eventually. We need something to compete with the U.S. dollar, and something to replace it eventually. Whether it’s the bitcoins, the RMB or seashells, I have no idea.
Q: We have a little more time. I’d like to ask you about something I’m always curious about. Have you recently been back to where you grew up, the small town with 7400 people called Demopolis in Alabama?
A: I was there about 18 months ago.
Q: Has much changed there?
A: No, no. I have changed more than the town has changed. It’s both good and bad. It’s good because I can put my feet on the ground where I was before, that’s somewhat satisfying. But then I wouldn’t want to spend too much time there because not much has happened.
Q: What’s the more memorable moment you have from there?
A: Leaving.
Q: Why? You didn’t like it there?
A: No, I loved it. It prepared me in a very basic and solid way to go on to do something else. When I left there, I realized how little I knew of the world. I was scared to death, because everybody else knew so much more. But that’s a great incentive. If you are scared, you probably will work harder to try to keep up, and maybe even do better than the other people.
Q: How do people treat you back in that small town when you return?
A: People who remember me and know my story seem to enjoy (seeing me). I’m a local boy who went away and did okay.
Q: Now you are in Singapore, preparing your two daughters for the future and letting them learn Chinese. How is their Chinese now?
A: They are great. My older daughter won a nationwide speaking Chinese language contest in Singapore in 2013. If you went to a movie, and saw that this blue-eyed kid was the best Mandarin speaker in a Chinese country, I would walk out. That’s crazy. But she won it again this year.
About Jim Rogers:
Jim Rogers is the chairman of Rogers Holdings and a veteran international investor. He is an author with a number of best-selling books, including A Gift To My Children, Investment Biker and Adventure Capitalist. He received bachelor’s degrees from Yale University and Oxford University. He currently lives in Singapore with his wife and two daughters.