28 AMERICANWAY
NOVEMBER 1 2007
M O N E Y M A T T E R S
thinkin
g
of traipsin
g
around the world
a
g
ain and asked her if she’d like to come
alon
g
. (She saidyes.) Sheprovedhermettle
on the road— somewhere around 150,000
total miles — and married Ro
g
ers mid-
journey, onJanuary 1, 2000.
“Life is very interestin
g
with Jim,” quips
Parker,whomethimaftershe’dread
Invest-
mentBiker
andattendedatalkhewas
g
iving-
inCharlotte, NorthCarolina. “There I was,
worryin
g
about payin
g
my rent and saving-
for my 401(k), and all of a sudden, some-
one is askin
g
you to
g
oaround theworld. It
chan
g
es theway you lookat thin
g
s.”
The trip chan
g
edJim, aswell—not least
because of jarrin
g
events alon
g
theway like
sidesteppin
g
cholera epidemics in South
AmericaandAfricaandbein
g
takenhosta
g
e
in the Con
g
o for nine days by police thu
g
s
who wanted a bribe. More importantly,
he became a
fi
rst-time father at the a
g
e of
60 after his and Parker’s return home. For
someone who admits that he’d always “felt
sorry” for parents, it’s a pretty astonishing-
transformation: He’s a mountain of mush
around dau
g
hter Hilton Au
g
usta, nick-
named Happy. Parker calls himself “head
overheels” in lovewith the little tyke. In fact,
he’s dreamin
g
of takin
g
her on future trav-
els and introducin
g
her to the world’s cul-
tural nooks and crannies. The four-year-old
seems to take to the idea: She has already
announcedplans tobecomea lin
g
uist.
So, hAvINg MAdE
such brilliant calls,
whatdoes
Rog
ers seewhenhe looksahead?
Oneword towers above all: China. “There’s
no question in my mind that this century
will belong-to China,” he says. “Just as the
nineteenth century
belong
ed to theUnited
King
dom and the twentieth century to the
United States.” In fact, he sees the g-lob’s
power center tilting-somuch that he’smak-
ing-surehisdaug-hteris fluent inMandarin.
She’swatching-cartoons in that lang-uae as
we speak and reads Chinese symbols plas-
teredonto the re
frig
eratorandotherhouse-
hold items.
They’re even considering- moving- the
family to China or Sing-aporeto
g
et in on
the g-roundfloor of a
supercharg
ed econo-
my powered bymore than a billion people.
They’d have to sell their ornate New York
City pad— for $15million, if you’re inter-
ested;
Rog
ers boug-htit for $107,000 in
1977 (another nice call). But the allure of
Asia is proving-just too much to pass up.
“It would be like moving-to New York in
1907or toLondon in 1807,” says
Rog
ers. “It
wouldbea very exciting- thing- tod”
But individual investors don’t necessar-
ily have to plant themselves in Shang-haito
make a fortune, he says. Instead, just stick
to a few key principles: Invest inwhat you
know—don’t listen toyourbrokeror the
fi
-
nancialmag-azinesor the latest g-uru— and
be content to do absolutely nothing-,with
yourmoneyearning-5percent inaplainold
bank account. After that: “Wait, wait, wait
for that periodic g-ret opportunity, and
thenact. And callme.”
An award-winning freelance journalist based in New York City,
ChRIS TAYloR
is a former senior writer for
SmartMoney
and
has contributed to the
Financial Times
,
Money
, and
U.S. News&
WorldReport
, among other publications.
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