Dave:
That is a stroke of luck, how did you manage to meet Mr. Soros?
Jim:
I don’t recall. I believe someone introduced us. I think he was looking for
someone to work with him and I was looking for a job, so it worked.
Dave:
You have a new book out called Hot Commodities, what is the basic premise
of the book?
Jim:
Well, people don’t know much about commodities and they think they are unclean.
Basically the book is an attempt to explain commodities to people. I try to
explain that commodities are an easy way to invest and a safe way to invest
if you do your homework. You will also make more money in commodities than you
will in stocks and bonds. If I am correct, we are in one of many periodic bull
markets in commodities and it is going to last another ten to twenty years and
people should be aware of it. Most people who don’t know about commodities run
for the hills when you talk about commodities.
Dave:
For a stock trader, someone who doesn’t know anything about commodities but
knows about stocks, are there any similarities between the two?
Jim:
Well, just because someone has heard of a stock, or has bought a stock does
not mean they know what they are doing. Commodities are much simpler than stocks.
Let’s take copper for instance. When there is too much copper it’s going to
go down, when there is not enough copper it’s going to go up. It’s very simple.
When you are going to buy a stock, you have to worry about management, the stock
market, the government, environmentalists, unions, regulations, world affairs,
and 100 other things. Copper is really simple, its either going to go up or
down. If copper goes up, copper stocks might not go up because of all the other
things I mentioned which can cause complication. So in short, commodities are
a lot simpler than stocks.
Dave:
Looking at your Rogers International Commodities Index and I noticed that oil
has the heaviest weighting at 35%. Why?
Jim:
Well, if you look around you oil is the most important commodity in the world.
Just looking around the room where you are, there probably isn’t a lot of orange
juice in that room but there is an abundance of oil. You got to that room
by energy. There is electricity. There is a telephone, which came from and runs
on energy. The carpet was made from energy. Energy is everywhere and it is the
most important commodity in the world.
Dave:
Wheat is your second heaviest weighting at 7%. Can you explain this?
Jim:
Sure, most people in the world eat some wheat and get some one way or another.
Bread comes from wheat for the most part. Wheat and food is very important and
in my mind wheat is the single most important commodity traded in the world.
Dave: Do you ever adjust the weighting in your Index fund?
That is a stroke of luck, how did you manage to meet Mr. Soros?
Jim:
I don’t recall. I believe someone introduced us. I think he was looking for
someone to work with him and I was looking for a job, so it worked.
Dave:
You have a new book out called Hot Commodities, what is the basic premise
of the book?
Jim:
Well, people don’t know much about commodities and they think they are unclean.
Basically the book is an attempt to explain commodities to people. I try to
explain that commodities are an easy way to invest and a safe way to invest
if you do your homework. You will also make more money in commodities than you
will in stocks and bonds. If I am correct, we are in one of many periodic bull
markets in commodities and it is going to last another ten to twenty years and
people should be aware of it. Most people who don’t know about commodities run
for the hills when you talk about commodities.
Dave:
For a stock trader, someone who doesn’t know anything about commodities but
knows about stocks, are there any similarities between the two?
Jim:
Well, just because someone has heard of a stock, or has bought a stock does
not mean they know what they are doing. Commodities are much simpler than stocks.
Let’s take copper for instance. When there is too much copper it’s going to
go down, when there is not enough copper it’s going to go up. It’s very simple.
When you are going to buy a stock, you have to worry about management, the stock
market, the government, environmentalists, unions, regulations, world affairs,
and 100 other things. Copper is really simple, its either going to go up or
down. If copper goes up, copper stocks might not go up because of all the other
things I mentioned which can cause complication. So in short, commodities are
a lot simpler than stocks.
Dave:
Looking at your Rogers International Commodities Index and I noticed that oil
has the heaviest weighting at 35%. Why?
Jim:
Well, if you look around you oil is the most important commodity in the world.
Just looking around the room where you are, there probably isn’t a lot of orange
juice in that room but there is an abundance of oil. You got to that room
by energy. There is electricity. There is a telephone, which came from and runs
on energy. The carpet was made from energy. Energy is everywhere and it is the
most important commodity in the world.
Dave:
Wheat is your second heaviest weighting at 7%. Can you explain this?
Jim:
Sure, most people in the world eat some wheat and get some one way or another.
Bread comes from wheat for the most part. Wheat and food is very important and
in my mind wheat is the single most important commodity traded in the world.
Dave: Do you ever adjust the weighting in your Index fund?
